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Racial segregation today

After discussing the history of racist housing policies, we will use Social Explorer to map racial residential segregation today.

  • Visit the resource
  • Click “Explore” under United States
  • Click “Change Data” in the top left
  • Choose “Race” -> “Black or African American Alone”
  • Zoom in on a city of your choosing. What do you see about segregation?
    • You may have to the geography level from “by County” to “by Tract”

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.

Summary video: What we covered today