Redlining & the White Flight Overview

This week we are switching gears and focusing on the twin issues that have been plaguing our cities and suburbs/exurbs: the red-lining and the white flight. We will look at the historic trends in housing discrimination and will study government maps that outlined areas where Black residents lived and were therefore deemed risky investments. We will also focus on the sudden or gradual large-scale migration of white people from areas becoming more racially or ethnoculturally diverse.

Learning Objectives:

1. Define and explain the definition/concept of redlining
2. Describe and explain the impact of redlining on residential segregation
3. Describe and explain the impact of redlining on the livelihood and future trajectory of Black residents
4. Explain the U.S. policies and legislation that codified redlining and residential segregation
5. Explain how federal, state, and local housing legislation and policies advantaged white Americans throughout the 20th century, especially during the years from the Great Depression to the civil rights movement.
6. Be able to define and explain the history and meaning of “white flight” in the United States from the 1950s forward;
7. Be able to explain the history and importance of white flight to the experience of Black, Latinx, and lower income residents of urban communities;

To Read:

Emily Badger (Aug. 24, 2017): How Redlining’s Racist Effects Lasted for Decades, The New York Times, The Upshot.

How Decades of Racist Housing Policy Left Neighborhoods Sweltering By Brad Plumer and Nadja Popovich Photographs by Brian Palmer Aug. 24, 2020 https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/08/24/climate/racism-redlining-cities-global-warming.html

Introduction: WHAT HAPPENS TO A NEIGHBORHOOD AFTER WHITE FLIGHT in Woldoff, Rachael A.. White Flight/Black Flight The Dynamics of Racial Change in an American Neighborhood, Cornell University
Press, 2011. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/bmcc/detail.action?docID=3138152.

Get a copy of the chapter here:

White_Flight_Black_Flight_The_Dynamics_of_Racial_C…_-_Introduction_What_Happens_to_a_Neighborhood_after_White_Flight

To Listen:

A ‘Forgotten History’ Of How The U.S. Government Segregated America: NPR May 2017:

To Watch

NPR: Housing Segregation and Redling in America

Include in your Step 3: Why do you live where you live?

With this assignment, you will share a basic assessment as to why you live where you do. Revisit these questions for your Step 3 and critically analyze informal and formal policies and legislation that may have influenced your current residential location.

For this assignment, take time think about where you live…In an essay format, respond to these questions –

1. Why do you live there? Why did your family decide to move there? What brought your family to that community or neighborhood? Why that borough?
2. How long have you resided there? How long has your family resided there?
3. Does your family have plans on relocating soon? Why or why not?
4. Have you recently moved into this community? How does it differ from your previous neighborhood?
5. Have there been any recent changes to your neighborhood? Explain.
6. What is unique about your community?
7. What challenges does your community face? What challenges do the people residing in your community face?
8. Question on available resources
9. Question on needed resources/improvements
10. Would you prefer to live in another neighborhood? If yes, tell me more about this other community that you prefer compared to your own.

Power Point