Washington Park Subdivision

41°47′00″N 87°36′44″W / 41.783457°N 87.61219°W / 41.783457; -87.61219

The Washington Park Subdivision is the name of the historic 3-city block by 4-city block subdivision in the northwest corner of the Woodlawn community area, on the South Side of Chicago in Illinois that stands in the place of the original Washington Park Race Track. The area evolved as a redevelopment of the land previously occupied by the racetrack. It was originally an exclusively white neighborhood that included residential housing, amusement parks, and beer gardens.

During the late 1920s and 1930s, the area became the subject of discriminatory twenty-year covenants (private real-estate agreements), which at first had been upheld by the United States Supreme Court but were later determined to be unenforceable by the court, beginning with a challenge in a seminal case brought by Carl Hansberry. The case is a vital part of legal studies and considered an important part of a broad class of histories. The play Raisin in the Sun is based on Lorraine Hansberry's struggles in this neighborhood.