Redlining: Mapping Inequality in Dayton and Springfield, Ohio is a documentary film which premiered on US television (PBS) in 2022.
The topic of this film is the history of housing and urban planning in two cities in the state of Ohio, with special focus on racial segregation: the separation of white people and people of color (mainly African Americans).
Here is some basic information about this film:
** Writer, producer, and director: Richard Wonderling
** Editor: Jason Wilson
** Narrator: Darrell Brown
** Available on the PBS website
** Language: English
** Subtitles: English
** Run time: 53 minutes
The story begins with the American Dream as it was developed in the beginning of the 20th century.
A husband and a wife can buy a house in a nice neighborhood. The couple can have children who can grow up in a nice neighborhood. Because the husband owns a house, he can take a loan to buy a car. Because he owns a house, he can take another loan to pay for the education of his children.
While the husband pays the mortgage, he is building an equity. When the mortgage is paid in full, he owns an economic asset which can in time be transferred to the next generation.
When the children have to start their own lives, they have a good education and a solid economic foundation. When they have to start their own lives, they have conditions which are better than their parents had.
This is the American Dream: every generation will move one step up the social and economic ladder. For every new generation, things will get better than they were for the previous generation.
This is a wonderful idea. For some people the American Dream becomes a reality. But it is not available to all Americans.
White Americans have a good chance of success. The system is rigged to help and support them. People of color are in a different situation. The system is rigged against them.
Many white people want to live in a white neighborhood. They do not want people of color to move into their neighborhood. White people create two important tools to make sure they get what they want:
** Racial covenants are introduced (around 1910)
** Redlining is introduced (in the 1930s)
What is a racial covenant?
What is redlining?
A racial covenant is a document which is signed by the person who buys a house in a white neighborhood. The document says that this property can only be rented or sold to white people.
People of color (mainly African Americans, but also Latinos and Jews) are not allowed to rent or buy this property.
After a few years, all houses in the neighborhood are covered by a racial covenant. This policy will make sure that the neighborhood remains white. This policy will ensure that people of color are excluded.
Redlining is another tool which is used to establish and maintain racial segregation.
Urban planners and real estate agents look at the map of a city. Different neighborhoods are divided into four categories. Each category is marked with a letter and a color.
Type A – Green = desirable
Type B – Blue = still desirable
Type C – Yellow = declining
Type D – Red = hazardous (risky)
If you want to live in zones marked type A or B, you can get a mortgage with a federal insurance. This means you can buy a home on good conditions.
If you live in zones marked type C or D, there is no mortgage, no federal insurance. This means you cannot buy a home. You have to rent.
Who lives in the green and the blue zones?
White people.
Who lives in the yellow and red zones?
People of color.
The system is rigged.
For white people, the system will often create a circle of increasing prosperity.
For people of color, the system will often create a vicious circle of poverty.
Hence the term Redlining.
In 1933, the federal government created the Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC). It was a part of President Roosevelt’s New Deal.
The purpose of HOLC was to help young people who wanted to buy their first home. It was a nice idea. And for some people, the dream became a reality. But the dream was not available to all Americans.
This film shows how federal, state, and local government joined forces with banks and real estate agents to establish and maintain racial segregation: the separation of white people and people of color.
Some African Americans protested against this system which was created to exclude them from taking part in the American Dream.
One of them is Lelia Francis (1903-1999) who was the first African American real estate agent in Ohio and only the second African American real estate agent in the whole country.
Lelia Francis and others tried to struggle against the system which was designed to create inequality.
It was not an easy struggle. They were up against a tradition which had powerful supporters.
When a black family moved into a white neighborhood, the members of the black family often faced harassment, sometimes even terrorism.
Some white residents were prepared to do almost anything to drive a black family out of their neighborhood.
The struggle against racial covenants and redlining became a part of the struggle for civil rights which developed during the 1950s and 1960s.
The topic became a public issue which was discussed by members of the US Congress. In 1968, Congress passed a law to deal with the problem, the Fair housing Act, which made racial covenants illegal and outlawed redlining.
The politicians who voted for the law had good intentions, but good intentions do not guarantee a good result. The law had no teeth. It was difficult to enforce.
When the law was passed, the price of real estate had risen to levels which were so high that they were out of reach for many people of color.
In the year 2000, more than thirty years after the law was passed, many problems related to redlining still persisted. The legacy of redlining did not disappear overnight.
What happened in Dayton and Springfield (Ohio) was not unique. The methods used in Dayton and Springfield were used in cities all over the United States.
Housing and urban planning is an important aspect of people’s lives. If you have a good home, it can be the foundation of a good life. If you own a home, the situation is even better.
You have an economic asset which you can use to help and support your family. You can help your children get a good start in their lives.
If you cannot buy a home, you have to rent. You cannot build an equity. You cannot get a loan to pay for the education of your children. You can never get an economic asset which can be passed on to the next generation.
When your children have to start their own lives, they will be in the same situation as you were when you started out: they will also have to rent. It is a vicious circle.
This is why the policy of housing and urban development is an important aspect of people’s lives.
When we watch this film about redlining in the state of Ohio, we can see how the system was rigged to help and support white people, while people of color were prevented from getting any help and support.
It was a clever construction, a devious device, because it was almost invisible and highly effective. But it was unfair and after being practiced for many years it was finally declared illegal.
What was wrong with it? It was a gross violation of the basic American principle which promises freedom and justice for all.
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
Jim Crow of the North
PBS, 57 minutes
2018
Owned: A Tale of Two Americas
83 minutes
2018
Segregated by Design
An animated film, 18 minutes
2019
# 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)
*****
Lelia Francis
(1903-1999)
The first African American
real estate agent in Ohio, and only the
second African American real estate agent
in the whole country
*****
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