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Samatha Wahome

History of African American Education: 1950—present

Dr. Beverly Gordon

May 28, 2008

African American Housing Opportunities and Redlining

The current era of subprime foreclosure crisis and desegregation gives cause to look at

historical and current progress regarding home ownership and the African American

Community. Contrary to the popular narrative, residential segregation is systematic, not a choice

or a manifestation of cultural depravity. According to Denton and Massey (1993), “the effect of

segregation on black well-being is structural, not individual. Residential segregation lies beyond

the ability of any individual to change; it constrains black life chances irrespective of personal

traits, individual motivations, or private achievements”(p. 2). Despite the emphasis in the U.S.

narrative of colorblindness, neutrality and rugged individualism, structural and institutional

inadequacies have been inconsistently addressed. “The origins of the subprime foreclosure crisis

can be found, in large part, in the ongoing racial discrimination and segregation whose roots

reach back to the discriminatory social, financial and government policies of the early twentieth

century”(2008 Fair Housing Trends, 2008, p. 7).

Since the World War II and the Great Depression declined housing development until 1945,

The New Deal led to housing legislation which produced the long-term mortgage loans still in

existence today. Subsequently, the Federal Housing Authority (FHA), the Veterans’

Administration (VA), The Mortgage Bankers Association of America (MBAA) and the National

Association of Home Builders prepared for post World War II housing demands.

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FHA housing programs also had another significant effect on the metropolitan area, creating

suburban and urban areas.

Adopting the evaluations of the Home Owners' Loan Corporation (HOLC) and the best

practices of the National Association of Real Estate Boards, FHA mortgage insurance

was readily available only in areas where both the housing stock and population mix met

well-defined standards. As a result, postwar housing development and expansion

occurred predominantly in newer suburban communities and in more affluent white

neighborhoods (chicagohistory.org).

These “well-defined standards” consisted of racial bias, evident in mortgage redlining, derived

from the HOLC maps of the 1930s categorizing particular communities as inappropriate for

loans.

HOLC utilized a discriminatory risk rating system whereby prospective borrowers were

favored if their neighborhood was deemed ‘new, homogeneous, and in demand in good

times and bad.’ Properties would be ranked low (and thus judged high-risk) if they were

“within such a low price or rent range as to attract an undesirable element,” which often

meant that they were located near a black neighborhood (Fair Housing Trends, 2008, p.

10).

Thus, the federal government created the redlining practices. These practices made it virtually

impossible for blacks to occupy newly developed suburban neighborhoods. Under these biased

principles, black residents lowered the property value, being considered a financial risk simply

because of the color of their skin. Squires and Kubrin (2005) confirm that:

The federal government’s underwriting rules for FHA and other federal mortgage

insurance products and enforcement of racially restrictive covenants by the courts along

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with overt redlining practices by mortgage lenders and racial steering by real estate

agents virtually guaranteed the patterns of racial segregation that were commonplace by

the 1950s. Concentration of public housing in central-city high-rise complexes (many of

which are now being torn down) reinforced the patterns of economic and racial

segregation that persist today (p. 57).

Levine (1996) notes that decades after World War II, millions of southern blacks migrated to

northern cities, while millions of working and middle class whites fled those same cities for these

developing suburban communities which restricted black homeowners. In the 34 largest cities in

the U.S, the white population decreased by 1.9 million and the black population increased by 2.9

million between 1960 and 1970 (Levine, 1996). Interestingly, during this exact period, white

residents of the suburbs around those 34 cities grew by 12.5 million; “in the same suburbs, racial

discrimination kept the increase in black population down to 800,000” (Levine, 1996). The

federal housing standard and policies not only made it possible for more home ownership

opportunities post World War II, but Levine (1996) suggest that many were leaving because of

the increasing black population. These moving patterns led to what is known as “white flight”

(Levine, 1996). Since white supporters and opponents of civil rights were apart of those fleeing,

many blacks felt that their “allies” were hypocrites (Levine, 1996). It was not enough to support

civil rights of blacks in word, but they wanted support in action, such as where they lived.

Subsequently, the Kerner Commission in 1968 informed white people in the U.S. that

discrimination and segregation was a threat to all of society. (Denton & Massey, 1993). The

Commission further noted that White institutions and society created, maintained, and continue

to support segregration. Upon passage of the Fair Housing Act in 1968, the housing

discrimination problem was not longer a pressing issue, and by the end of the 1970s, residential

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segregation was not a contingent factor in U.S. race relations (Denton & Massey, 1993). On the

other hand a coalition of civil rights groups sued the federal banking regulatory agencies for

failing to enforce the Fair Housing Act.

It was not until 1976,” that the federal banking regulatory agencies even acknowledged that

they had any enforcement responsibilities under the Act”(Fair Housing Trends, 2008, p.11). In

1988 the law was amended by the Fair Housing Act, which significantly strengthened the

“enforcement powers of the Act, giving the Departments of Housing and Urban Development

and Justice the authority and mandate to enforce the expanded and comprehensive requirements

of the law while still providing for a private enforcement mechanism”(Fair Housing Trends,

2008,p. 2). This legislative move gave even more power to protect victims of housing

discrimination and to regulate an industry still ridden with discriminatory practices. Despite this

legal breakthrough, challenges persist.

More recently, Bocian, Ernst, and Li (2006) found after analyzing over 177,000 subprime

loans, borrowers of color were over 30% more likely to receive a higher-rate loan than white

borrowers. These results account for creditworthiness differences. Even high-income “African-

Americans in predominantly Black neighborhoods are three times more likely to receive a

subprime purchase loan than low-income White borrowers”(Fair Housing Trends, 2008, p. 22).

Fifty-five percent of African-Amerians receive high-cost loans, in grave contrast to the 19

percent of white borrowers (Avery, Brevoort, &Canner, 2005). Furthermore, racial steering,

where real estate agents steer particular racial groups to houses in certain areas according to their

race or national origin, increased between 1989 and 2000 (Fair Housing Trends, 2008). These

agents, consequently, perpetuate segregation by cordoning neighborhoods of homes they show.

“In numerous instances real estate agents made blatant comments to Whites, African-Americans

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and Latinos steering them away from certain communities” (Fair Housing Trends, 2008). While,

the grand American ideological view would suggest that racism is not a major factor in the

continuance of segregated communities, the persistent realities demonstrate otherwise.

Residential segregation continues to thrive despite legislative efforts. “Residential segregation

is the institutional apparatus that supports other racially discriminatory processes and binds them

together into a coherent and uniquely effective system of racial subordination” (Denton and

Massey, 1993, p. 8).The purpose of this unit is to study the historical and present ways in which

redlining and other similar discriminatory practices affect the structural and person lives of

African Americans. Recognizing that housing discrimination does not only affect the lives of

African Americans, the unit acknowledges the unique history of African Americans within the

U.S. As Denton and Massey (1993) posited, “until the black ghetto is dismantled as a basic

institution of American urban life, progress ameliorating racial inequality in other arenas will be

slow, fitful, and incomplete’ (p. 8). There are no simple answers to undoing the massive acts of

discrimination faced by African-Americans each year. Still, this unit can open the radical

dialogue and activism necessary to keep searching.

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References

Avery, R. Brevoort, K.& Canner, G. (2005). Higher-Priced Home Lending and the 2005 HMDA

Data, Federal Reserve Bulletin A123, A160-

Bocian, D., Ernst, K. and Li, W. (2006). Unfair Lending: The Effect of Race and Ethnicity on

the Price of Subprime Mortgages. Center for Responsible Lending. Retrieved from

www.responsiblelending.org.

Denton, N. & Massey, D. (1993). American Apartheid: Segregation and the Making of the

Underclass. MA: Harvard University Press.

http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/1045.html

Dr. King’s Dream Denied: Forty Years of Failed Federal Enforcement.2008 Fair Housing

Trends. Retrieved from www.nationalfairhousing.org

Squires, G. & Kubrin, C. (2005). Privileged Places: Race, Uneven Development and the

Geography of Opportunity in Urban America. Urban Studies, 42(1), 47–68.

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African American Housing Opportunities and Redlining

Unit Activity One History of Redlining Show the video/DVD: Race: the power of an illusion. Episode three, The house we live in (2003) by James Oliver Horton; C C H Pounder; Larry Adelman; Llewellyn Smith; Joseph L Graves; Alan H Goodman; Melvin L Oliver; Mae Ngai; Matthew Frye Jacobson; Eduardo Bonilla-Silva; Pilar N Ossorio; John A Powell; Bill Griffith; Dalton Conley; Beverly Daniel Tatum; Independent Television Service.; California Newsreel 1) After the DVD, have small groups discuss their general impressions. 2) Lead whole group in discussion. Some guiding questions: a. What is redlining? b. How and why was it created? c. Who/what created redlining? d. How did redlining affect African Americans in the video? e. What effects did redlining have at that time? What effects are still here? Activity Two Tracing History to Present (Due to size of reports and additional internet search, this project is lengthier.) Materials: Reports: Residential Segregation and Housing Discrimination in the United State (approx. 36 pp.)s and Dr. King’s Dream Denied: Forty Years of Failed Federal Enforcement.2008 Fair Housing Trends (approx. 80 pp.); poster boards or chart paper; markers 1)Lead entire class in completing a K W L chart by first asking what do they know about Redlining and its affects on African Americans and what do they want to know. 2)Afterwords break class into small groups or partners to research. 3) Have partners and small groups complete their own KWL goals additionally to the whole group goals. Example questions: What housing discrimination legislation exists? What is the effectiveness of the legislation (provide evidence from documents)? What are ways segregation persists? What types of activism occurred to fight housing discrimination? 4) Distribute copies of the following reports: Residential Segregation and Housing Discrimination in the United State (approx. 36 pp.)s and Dr. King’s Dream Denied: Forty Years of Failed Federal Enforcement.2008 Fair Housing Trends (approx. 80 pp.). Also have students utilize internet to help in their search. 5) Groups will then document findings under the “L” on their charts on poster and chart paper. (Due to lengthy statistics in reports, it might be helpful for students to give more detail on a separate sheet of paper—and give general descriptions on the chart). Activity Three “Visual Effects” Materials: Pictures below (can be place on foam core board or on a slide show); Negro Spritual music

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1)Ask students when was their first experience or first rememberance of knowing race? Students are not to comment on each other’s response. 2)Then have them watch slide show, or show pictures individually. Students are not to respond throughout viewing. (Play spiritual music throughout this time). 3) Have students write about their thoughts about what segregation means THEN and NOW, drawing from what they have learned thus far and the pictures & information that stood out the most to them. 4) Have students share with a small group or partner. 5) Have whole class discussion.

“4 African American children playing in a slum; high-rise buildings in background, North Carolina” Courtesy of Library of Congress

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HARLEM, 1950: Protesters battle exclusion of Blacks from Stuyvesant Town. DC 37 was part of Northern movement that fought job and housing discrimination Courtesy: http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.firstyearbook.umd.edu/TMarshall/images/harlem_protest.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.firstyearbook.umd.edu/TMarshall/res_stories_housing.html&h=255&w=200&sz=55&hl=en&start=7&tbnid=zbdF2soLXG4fCM:&tbnh=111&tbnw=87&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dhousing%2Bdiscrimination%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den

Courtesy of www.thetruthaboutrealty.com/.../ When the nation's civil rights movement gathered steam, Seattle was there in the forefront, challenging job and housing discrimination and education issues.

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During the summer of 1963, civil rights protestors in Seattle took their fight for racial equality to the streets. Rev. Mance Jackson, center next to Police Sgt. C.R. Connery, and a group of demonstrators that also included whites, march at 13th and Pine on June 15. Courtesy of www.civilrightsreproductions.com/poster_histo...

The FHA also imposed standards for home design and subdivision design and refused to finance homes that didn’t meet these criteria.

These new designs -- such as the ranch and split level -- quickly became the norms for the home-building industry.

Not surprisingly, whites followed the financial incentives to the outlying areas, essentially guaranteeing a racial, economic, and architectural divide between cities and suburbs.

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As industry switched moving their products from highly-taxed railroads to trucks on subsidized highways after World War II, well-paying manufacturing jobs moved outwards.

The suburbs offered cheap land, cheap labor, and tax subsidies for businesses.

This process -- known as deindustrialization -- destabilized city neighborhoods that were based on a close relationship between home and work.

Housing discrimination meant that millions of African-Americans and Latinos migrating north could find housing only in the inner city. And deindustrialization meant they could not find entry-level manufacturing jobs in the cities near where they lived, as did previous urban immigrants.

Other public and private policies -- such as urban renewal, block busting by the real estate industry, and insurance redlining -- also damaged many of the neighborhoods and institutions that gave cities their special appeal, and pushed people outwards.

From; www.ci.rochester.ny.us/.../landuse/4.cfm

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Open Housing Movement Years of activism and demonstrations paid off in 1967 when the city of Louisville passed an ordinance banning discrimination in housing. Jefferson County’s ordinance was passed in

1970.

Klan Encounter

Marching for Housing

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In the mid-1960s, the issue of segregation in housing took center stage in Louisville. This march is from 1967.

Andrew Wade and Family In 1954, Andrew Wade and his family became the center of a firestorm when they

attempted to move into a previously all-white neighborhood in Louisville’s southwestern suburbs. Here, Wade points out the damage done by rocks thrown at the house. But the

worst was yet to come ...

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The Wade House This house in an all-white southwestern Jefferson County neighborhood was bombed in

1954, shortly after a black family, the Wades, moved in. Andrew Wade moved his family out, and no one was ever prosecuted for the bombing.

The Bradens in Court Carl and Anne Braden, who had bought the house seen in the previous two images on

behalf of a black family, were accused of being part of a Communist conspiracy and tried for sedition. Carl was convicted and served several months in prison.

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From: http://www.ket.org/content/civilrights/gallery Activity Four Book Club Materials: American Apartheid: Segregation and the Making of the Underclass and journal notebooks 1) For an entire month students are to read increments of this book each day. 2) Students are to write about their thoughts about the readings in their journal notebooks. 3) Each day ( every other day, or weekly—as time permits) students are to exchange journals, responding to each other’s entries. 4) At the end of the book, students are to write or make a creative reflection about the book and journal experience. Activity Five

Looking Back, Moving Forward

1) Watch brief video: “Forty years ago, seven days after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Fair Housing Act of 1968 ("Civil Rights Act"). The Fair Housing Act of 1968 prohibits discrimination against any person because of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin. After the act, neighborhoods could no longer be designated 'whites only' and restrictive racial covenants were outlawed. All Americans were given equal rights to the sale, rent, lease, and finance of their home in all housing markets. Senate Democrats are committed to safeguarding those rights. Senator Richard Durbin said, ‘If we're really going to strive for the kind of opportunity which is the hallmark of America, we really have to talk about economic opportunity. That means making certain that people have an opportunity for a job that gives them a chance to raise their family and a decent place to live in a safe neighborhood. That's why the Fair Housing Act is so important.’ Senate Democrats remain committed to Fair Housing for all Americans. The Senate Democratic Communication Center has released a video entitled, "Looking Back, Moving Forward: Democrats Celebrate 40 Years of the Fair Housing Civil Rights Act." It reflects on the successes of our past and Senate Democrats' commitment to work towards a more equitable future for all of our neighbors who seek to live the American dream.” Access brief video at the following link:

http://democrats.senate.gov/multimedia/043008_fairhousing.cfm 2) Discuss what it means to have fair housing today, reflecting on the video and in the past. 3) Draw on a board intersecting lines (This provides a visual about the gravity of housing discrimination—ie. Schools, employment,etc.). 4) Have students brainstorm of all the ways housing discrimination impact African Americans today. Write answers at each line. 5) Ask Are all African Americans living in the ghetto? For those who are not, how does housing discrimination affect them? How does housing discrimination affect all of us? 6) Have students brainstorm of ideas to begin to make a difference

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7) Break class into groups—each group must research online to find ten ways for individuals and for groups (total of twenty) to fight against housing discrimination 8) Students are to present their proposals Activity Six Redlining Today Materials: Maps of local area and/or state (mounted on a foam core board); Real estate magazines and/or section from the newspaper; different color highlighters; multicolored push pins (Give each color a price range) 1) Have students highlight the major interstates/freeways 2) Have students use addresses of homes for sale in the real estate magazines/newspaper and plot it on their map with appropriate color push pin. 3) After students have completed plotting (Teacher determines the number of locations), have students discuss patterns. 4) As students discuss results, ask the following: a. Why are the homes valued this way? b. What does this mean for gentrification? c. How does this affect the local schools in each area? d. As an extra activity students can research to find out the racial demographics of each or their areas. Activity Seven Fair Housing Campaign 1) Access fair housing campaign radio, poster, print, and television adds at the link below: http://www.fairhousinglaw.org/the_campaign/ 2) Divide students into small groups 3) After they have previewed all of the campaign media, Ask students what made the campaign successful? 4) Have students design a media campaign using two sources: i.e. radio and print or television and radio. 5) Students are to present the results of their campaigns to group. Activity Eight Doing Something Using internet resources and local housing organization information, have students derive ways to get involve in community activism. See links for help: http://www.fairhousinglaw.org/ http://www.nationalfairhousing.org/ Students are to implement activism plans as small groups, class, and/or school. Extra activity: Take pictures/video of entire process an avenue for collective reflection. Activity Nine Mock Debate After extensive research, divide students into two groups to debate the following topic: Segregation is/is not a major factor in the life expectancies of African Americans

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Bibliography

Fauver, B. and Ruderman, J. (1991). Stride Toward Freedom: The Aftermath of Brown v. the Board of Education of Topeka . National Center for History in the Schools. University of California, Los Angeles, 1991. (A unit of study for grades 8–12)

Gregg, R. (1993).Sparks from the Anvil of Oppression: Philadelphia's African Methodists and Southern Migrants, 1890–1940. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. Hillier, A. (2003). Redlining and the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation. Journal of Urban History , 29(4), 394–420. Davis, J. E. (1991). Contested Ground: Collective Action and the Urban Neighborhood. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. Hirsch, A. (1998). Making the Second Ghetto: Race and Housing in Chicago, 1940–1960. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Jencks, C.(1992).Rethinking Social Policy: Race, Poverty, and the Underclass. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Jones, C. (1987). Building Societies and Credit Rationing: An Empirical Examination of Redlining. Urban Studies, 24(3), 205-216.

King, C. and Osborne, L (1997). Oh Freedom: Kids Talk About the Civil Rights Movement with the People Who Made It Happen. New York: Knopf.

Massey, S., and Denton, N. (1993). American Apartheid: Segregation and the Making of the Underclass. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Seligman, A. (2005). Block by Block: Neighborhoods and Public Policy on Chicago, West Side. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Ogletree, C. J. (2004).All Deliberate Speed: Reflections on the First Half-Century of Brown v. Board of Education . New York: W.W.Norton & Company.Rice, W E. (1996). Race, Gender, "Redlining," and the Discriminatory Access to Loans, Credit, and Insurance: An Historical and Empirical Analysis of Consumers Who Sued Lenders and Insurers in Federal and State Courts. San Diego Law Reiview, 33(2), 583-700.

O’Neill, L. (1994). Little Rock: The Desegregation of Central High . Brookfield, CT: Milbrook Press.

Rochelle, B. (1993). Witness to Freedom: Young People Who Fought for Civil Rights . New York: Lodestar Books.

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Silverman, R M. (2005). Redlining in a Majority Black City?: Mortgage Lending and the Racial Composition of Detroit Neighborhoods.” The Western journal of black studies, 29(1), 2005, 531-541.

Reports

Dr. King’s Dream Denied: Forty Years of Failed Federal Enforcement.2008 Fair Housing

Trends. Retrieved from www.nationalfairhousing.org

U.S. Housing Scholars and Research and Advocacy Organizations (2008).Residential Segregation and Housing in the United States.Violations of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination: A Response to the 2007 Periodic Report of the United States of America. A Report to the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. Videos

Eyes on the Prize ,Volume 1, “Awakenings (1954–1956),” PBS

The Intolerable Burden, directed by Chea Princes, First Run Icarus Films, New York.

Retrieved from: http://aae.greenwood.com.proxy.lib.ohiostate.edu/c_resources/ReadLesson.aspx?LName=LESSON%2019&BName=PQ805#Further%20Student%20and%20Teacher%20Resources Race: the power of an illusion. Episode three, The house we live in (2003) by James Oliver Horton; C C H Pounder; Larry Adelman; Llewellyn Smith; Joseph L Graves; Alan H Goodman; Melvin L Oliver; Mae Ngai; Matthew Frye Jacobson; Eduardo Bonilla-Silva; Pilar N Ossorio; John A Powell; Bill Griffith; Dalton Conley; Beverly Daniel Tatum; Independent Television Service.; California Newsreel

Websites

http://lcweb2.loc.gov.proxy.lib.ohio-state.edu/ammem/snhtml/

http://newdeal.feri.org/ The New Deal Network with documents and photos. Retrieved from:

http://aae.greenwood.com.proxy.lib.ohiostate.edu/c_resources/ReadLesson.aspx?LName=LESSON%2011&BName=PQ805#Further%20Student%20and%20Teacher%20Resources http://www.fairhousinglaw.org/ http://www.nationalfairhousing.org/

www.ardemgaz.com/prev/central/counts.html

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http://www.nationalfairhousing.org/FairHousingResources/tabid/2555/Default.aspx http://www.ket.org/content/civilrights/index.htm Goin’ North: Tales of the Great Migration. 5 parts. Produced by Charles Hardy III. Talking History. Aural History Productions, 1985. www.talkinghistory.org/hardy.html.

www.pbs.org/jefferson/enlight/brown.htm#issue

www.centralhigh57.org/the_tiger.htm#sep.%2019

www.lib.virginia.edu/small/collections/jdavis/linkarticle.html

www.brownat50.org/brownresources/outsidelinkspage.htm Howard University School of Law site with history of Brown, biographics and links to many celated sites

www.masshist.org/longroad LongRoad to Freedom website discusses 1980s desegregation in Massachusetts