Political origins of wealth disparities
Before class, watch this introduction from NPR Code Switch.
Many American families build wealth through home ownership. Yet explicitly racist policies have historically excluded some groups from opportunities for home ownership, thus creating wealth gaps that exist today.
History: What happened?
During the New Deal in the 1930s, the federal Home Owners Loan Corporation produced maps rating the quality of neighborhoods as a criterion for federal mortgage approval. Neighborhoods with Black families were colored red and excluded from mortgages—an explicitly racist policy now known as redlining.
Federal mortgages enabled white families to build wealth through rising home equity. Black families were excluded. Racist policy thus created wealth gaps that persist today.
What next?
On the next course page, we will map residential segregation by race today.
Optional further reading
Faber, J. W. 2020. We built this: Consequences of New Deal era intervention in America’s racial geography. American Sociological Review, 85(5), 739-775.
Oliver, M., & Shapiro, T. (2013). Black wealth / white wealth: A new perspective on racial inequality. Routledge.
Massey, D. S., & Denton, N. A. (1993). American apartheid: Segregation and the making of the underclass. Harvard University Press.