Jim Crow of the North is a documentary film which premiered on US television (PBS) in 2018.
Jim Crow is a reference to rules and regulations which were introduced in the southern states after the end of the Civil War and the end of Reconstruction.
The purpose of Jim Crow was to establish and maintain segregation between blacks and whites. To ensure that white people had power and privilege, while black people had little or no power and absolutely no privilege.
Many Americans believe Jim Crow is only connected with the history of the southern states. Many Americans believe Jim Crow has nothing to do with the history of the northern states.
This assumption is wrong.
Jim Crow was also found in the north.
In the south, Jim Crow was highly visible. Large signs marked different facilities for whites and people of color. Different waiting rooms at the bus station. Different water fountains outside the waiting room.
In the north, Jim Crow was almost invisible. The rules and the regulations were not proclaimed with large signs, but they were still there and the results were not very different from what was found in the south.
In this film, we learn how Jim Crow worked behind the façade to establish and maintain segregation between whites and people of color in the north.
The topic of this film is the history of housing and urban planning in Minneapolis (one of Minnesota’s twin cities) with special focus on racial segregation:
The careful and deliberate separation of white people and people of color (mainly African Americans). The time frame runs from 1909 to 1968.
Here is some basic information about it:
** Producer and director: Daniel Pierce Bergin
** Production: Minnesota Experience, Twin Cities PBS
** Available on the PBS website
** Available on YouTube
** Language: English
** Subtitles: English
** Run time: 57 minutes
The film is divided into 18 short chapters.
Here are the headlines:
# 01. Aryans only, no African blood
# 02. Minnesota leads integration
# 03. A black family moves into a white neighborhood
# 04. Racial covenants
# 05. Mapping prejudice
# 06. Who benefits from urban planning?
# 07. The Supreme Court upholds racial covenants
# 08. Invisible color lines
# 09. Citizen terrorism
# 10. Redlining
# 11. Jim Crow of the north
# 12. Manufacturing urban poverty
# 13. Racial covenants in the suburbs
# 14. Fair housing and the American Dream
# 15. The 1968 Fair Housing Act
# 16. 35West and the destruction of black communities
# 17. Mapping history of housing discrimination
# 18. More than bricks and mortar
The story begins in 1909 when a black family moves into a white neighborhood. Many white residents are upset. They do not want to have a black family in their white neighborhood. They have two reasons:
** Number one = They do not like blacks. They do not want to have them around. They do not want their children to play with black children.
** Number two = They believe the value of their property will go down if there is just one black family in the neighborhood. They cannot allow this to happen.
Before long, white residents stage a demonstration outside the house where the black family lives. The mob wants to scare the black family so much that they will give up and leave the neighborhood.
Mob methods do not look good. The white leaders of Minneapolis do not need to use such methods. They invent a special tool to get what they want:
The racial covenant
What is a racial covenant? It is a document which must be signed by a person who buys a house in the white neighborhood. The document says that this property can only be rented to and sold to a white person.
After a few years, all houses in the neighborhood are covered by racial covenants, which will ensure that people of color are kept out.
Some black families complain about the racial covenants which are blocking their access to nice neighborhoods. They have the money to buy, but they are not allowed to buy. How can this be right?
They go to court. The case is appealed all the way to the US Supreme Court, but the court says the racial covenant is legal. It is a private contract between two persons. The court cannot object to this.
In the 1930s, the US government introduces a new tool which is supposed to help young people who want to buy their first home:
The Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC)
Until then, a buyer had to make a substantial down payment and get a mortgage to pay off the outstanding balance in five years. These conditions were hard.
The new tool (HOLC) is a part of President Roosevelt’s New Deal. The federal government will guarantee the mortgage. This means the bank will no longer run a risk when they offer a buyer a mortgage.
The down payment can be reduced and the mortgage can run over 10, 20 or even 30 years. These conditions are not so hard. They will help young people who want to buy their first home.
Who can get a mortgage with a federal insurance? This attractive option is not open to everyone. The white leaders of Minneapolis want white people to have this option, but they think that people of color should be excluded. To get what they want they introduce a new system in urban planning:
Redlining
What is redlining? The planners look at a map of the city and divide the different neighborhoods into four different categories. Each category is marked by a letter and a color.
Type A = Green = desirable
Type B = Blue = still desirable
Type C = Yellow = declining
Type D = Red = hazardous (risky)
A person who wants to buy a house in the green or the blue zone can get a mortgage with federal insurance.
But a person who wants to buy a house in the yellow or the red zone will be denied: no mortgage, no federal insurance.
Who lives in the green and the blue zones?
White people.
Who lives in the yellow and red zones?
People of color (mainly African Americans)
The system is known as redlining, because the people who live in the red zone cannot get any assistance. They cannot buy a home. They must rent a place to live.
A white person can buy a house in a nice neighborhood and build up an equity.
A black person cannot buy a house. The black person cannot build up an equity.
The system is rigged.
For a white family, the system often creates a circle of increasing prosperity.
For a black family, the system often creates a vicious circle of poverty.
After World War Two, when new suburbs were planned and built, the tools of segregation were taken to the suburbs: the racial covenant and redlining.
Black organisations complained when they realized that people of color were excluded from the new suburbs. Many white families could enjoy the American Dream, but black families could not.
Black politicians supported the black organisations. In the 1960s, the issue was discussed by members of the US Congress.
The result was a new law, the Fair Housing Act of 1968, which says that racial covenants are illegal and redlining is not allowed.
It was a victory for justice and equality, but when the victory finally came, the price of real estates had risen to a level which was so high that it was out of reach for many people of color.
The methods used in Minneapolis were used in major cities all over the north.
The history of housing and urban planning was dominated by racial covenants and redlining.
For many years, these tools were used to establish and maintain a policy of racial segregation: the separation of white people and people of color.
This film shows how the system was introduced and maintained in Minneapolis.
If you are interested in the history of the United States – in particular the history of civil rights – this film is definitely something for you.
It is highly recommended.
REFERENCES
# 1. Film and Video
Race: The Power of an Illusion
PBS, 3 episodes
2003
Jim Crow, Pennsylvania
PBS, 57 minutes
2007
Owned: A Tale of Two Americas
83 minutes
2018
Segregated by Design
An animated film, 18 minutes
2019
Redlining: Mapping Inequality
PBS, 53 minutes
2022
# 2. Books
** The Jim Crow Encyclopedia edited by Nikki L. M. Brown and Barry M. Stentiford (2 volumes) (951 pages) (2008)
** Sweet Land of Liberty: The Forgotten Struggle for Civil Rights in the North by Thomas Sugrue (2009)
** The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein (2017)
** Redlined: A Memoir of Race, Change, and Fractured Community in 1960s Chicago by Linda Gartz (2018)
** The Strange Careers of the Jim Crow North: Segregation and the Struggle Outside of the South edited by Brian Purnell and Jeanne Theoharis with Komozi Woodard (2019)
** Race for Profit: How Banks and the Real Estate Industry Undermined Black Homeownership by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor (2019)
** The Hollywood Jim Crow: The Racial Politics of the Movie Industry by Maryann Erigha (2019)
** Driving While Black: African American Travel and the Road to Civil Rights by Gretchen Sorin (2020)
** Traveling Black: A Story of Race and Resistance by Mia Bay (2021)
** Keeping Races in Their Places: The Dividing Lines That Shaped the American City by Anthony W. Taylor (2021)
# 3. Items available on the Internet
** Bruce Mitchell, “HOLC ‘Redlining’ Maps: The Persistent Structure of Segregation (executive summary),” NCRC, 20 March 2018
** Redlining was outlawed in 1968. Here is how the practice is still hurting Black Americans. CBS News, 10 October 2020 (8 minutes)
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