On the western edge of San Bernardino, Calif., just past the tight ranks of eucalyptus trees which shelter the city from desert-bound winds, Mayor James E. Cunningham this week helped unload the first lumber for a new housing project. It was one of this year's few U.S. developments of privately built homes intended primarily for Negroes (316 two-bedroom houses to sell for only $6,450 each).
On hand for the ceremony was the Southern-born woman who planned the project, robust, warm-hearted Mrs. Velma Grant. In only three years, she had built and sold $3,500,000 worth of new houses to Negroes in...