Redlining
A DEFINITION:
redlining: A system of discrimination, primarily based, but not limited to race, enacted by both governmental and private sector policy to deny access to property.
CONTEXT & HISTORY:
The term “redlining” … comes from the development by the New Deal, by the federal government of maps of every metropolitan area in the country. And those maps were color-coded by first the Home Owners Loan Corp. and then the Federal Housing Administration and then adopted by the Veterans Administration, and these color codes were designed to indicate where it was safe to insure mortgages. And anywhere where African-Americans lived, anywhere where African-Americans lived nearby were colored red to indicate to appraisers that these neighborhoods were too risky to insure mortgages. (Richard Rothstein on Fresh Air)
MEDIA LINKS:
Mapping Inequality, a website with maps, data sets, etc.
History of Redlining in Seattle (1-minute video)
Segregated Seattle, a website from University of Washington with maps, historical covenants, etc
Segregated By Design, short film by Mark Lopez and Richard Rothstein (18-minute video)
Edmonds Neighborhood Action Coalition 