Sheng Family

In 1952, Sing Sheng, a Chinese immigrant and World War II veteran, sought to move with his wife and two children into the Southwood neighborhood of South San Francisco, believing in the American dream of homeownership and equal opportunity. At the time, many suburban communities operated under unwritten racial exclusion, particularly against nonwhite families who were often seen as a threat to property values and social cohesion.

When white residents in Southwood opposed the Shengs’ move, fearing that allowing a Chinese family would lower home prices and set a precedent for more nonwhite residents, Sheng proposed a community vote, trusting that the ideals of democracy would protect his right to live where he chose. However, the results were devastating: 174 residents voted against allowing the Shengs to move in, while only 28 supported them.

This public rejection made national headlines, drawing comparisons to the racial discrimination faced by Black families in housing. Newspapers across the country covered the injustice of a democratic process being used to uphold segregation, with Sheng himself remarking, "I thought this was a free country. I thought this was a democracy." Despite the outcry, no legal action was taken, as housing discrimination against Asian Americans was still widely accepted.

The Sheng family's ordeal exposed the persistence of housing exclusion beyond Black communities, showing how Asian American families were also systematically denied access to suburban homeownership. Although California’s Alien Land Laws, which had previously barred many Asian immigrants from owning property, were repealed in 1952, cases like Sheng’s highlighted how prejudice remained deeply ingrained in the housing market. The incident also revealed how white homeowners weaponized community sentiment to enforce segregation without explicit legal restrictions.

Though Sheng and his family were forced to settle elsewhere, their story became an important chapter in the fight for fair housing and racial equality. It wasn’t until the Fair Housing Act of 1968 that racial discrimination in housing was formally outlawed, though patterns of segregation and racial bias in homeownership persist today.