# Were there really once signs saying "No dogs or Jews/Mexicans?" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 18, 2005, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-really-once-signs-saying-no-dogs-or-jews-mexicans/317567 "2005-08-18T12:22:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![The\_Weird\_One](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@The\_Weird\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Weird_One)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-really-once-signs-saying-no-dogs-or-jews-mexicans/317567/61 "2005-08-19T18:16:50Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Is _anyone_ actually reading the thread? I am! We are specifically discussing whether signs excluding both dogs and ethnic groups were mass-produced during the first half of the 20th century. OTOH, evidence that such homemade signs existed does reconcile the anecdotal evidence with the lack of any empirical evidence. Yes, people did see these signs posted, but it doesn’t appear that they were mass-produced until quite recently as “memorabilia.” ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-really-once-signs-saying-no-dogs-or-jews-mexicans/317567/62 "2005-08-20T00:00:49Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > Talking only about signs with the “dog” usage: > > It’s not hard to believe that there were individuals who would make up a homemade sign and post it in their restaurant, bar, whatever. I’m sure this happened in the UK with the “no dogs, Irish” too. > > But there were almost certainly no government-made or institutionalized signs which lumped dogs and [x-ethnic group] together, preventing them from entering the premises. \<------ Scratches chin quietly. Oh. Agreed. Sorry for the confusion. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-really-once-signs-saying-no-dogs-or-jews-mexicans/317567/63 "2005-08-20T07:11:28Z")
All right, there were no mass produced signs, agreed? But how about ads in the newspapers? This would be a very easy thing to check as they’re on microfiche and not likely to have been been tampered with. (Yes, I know it’s not the same thing.) ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-really-once-signs-saying-no-dogs-or-jews-mexicans/317567/64 "2005-08-20T07:19:01Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > Hm. Maybe there was no sign that said “long-haired freaky people need not apply”? > > Seriously, though. Are there accounts of long-haired hippie types being the target of such signs? You want an account? I once moved into an apartment whose ad said, “No hippies, no children, no pets.” This was for an apartment a block and a half from my college campus, in the early 1970s, and she wanted “no hippies”? So I wore contact lenses instead of my hippie specs, and dressed sorta preppy. (Of course once I moved in, with the black light and the beads and the anti-war posters and all, the jig was up.) I talked the landlady into letting my cat live there, too. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-really-once-signs-saying-no-dogs-or-jews-mexicans/317567/65 "2005-08-20T11:52:21Z")
> [@Hilarity N. Suze](#): > > All right, there were no mass produced signs, agreed? > > But how about ads in the newspapers? This would be a very easy thing to check as they’re on microfiche and not likely to have been been tampered with. > > (Yes, I know it’s not the same thing.) I’ve spent hours searching my electronic newspaper databases. Not just this last few days, but in the past. And I’m sure other researchers have also. There were the occasional “No Irish need apply” domestic ads in US papers from the turn of the century, but only occasional. Most ads were desparate for help. The “NO dogs/Mexicans/Negroes” appeared only in a 1968 article about discrimination of minorities. It suggested that many minorities remember signs such as this. It wasn’t long on info about whether they were in relationship to housing/rooming, or bars, restaurants, places of commerce. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-really-once-signs-saying-no-dogs-or-jews-mexicans/317567.md?page=3)