redlining — Bunk History

Redlining map from the 1930s

The Tyranny Of The Map: Rethinking Redlining

In trying to understand one of the key aspects of structural racism, have we constructed a new moralistic story that obscures more than it illuminates?

by Robert Gioielli via The Metropole on November 3, 2022

Collage of a residential security map.

The Lasting Legacy Of Redlining

We looked at 138 formerly redlined cities and found most were still segregated — just like they were designed to be.

by Ryan Best, Elena Mejía via FiveThirtyEight on February 9, 2022

1935 redlining map of the cities of Pawtucket and Central Falls in Rhode Island.

Reporting on Redlining: An Interview with Scott Markley

How can historic data about segregation, redlining, and real estate be more accessible? In this interview, we dive into a new data set derived from HOLC maps.

by Ian Spangler, Scott Markley via Norman B. Leventhal Map & Education Center on January 23, 2022

Kristen Clarke, assistant U.S. attorney general for civil rights, speaking at a podium

The Keys to Ensuring a New Anti-Redlining Initiative Succeeds

History offers some pointers for government regulators.

by Robert Henderson, Rebecca Marchiel via Made By History on November 15, 2021

Residential Security map of central Chicago, sourced from "Mapping Inequality"

How Academia Laid the Groundwork for Redlining

The connections between private industry and government were much more fluid than was previously imagined.

by LaDale Winling, Todd Michney via Platform on November 1, 2021

Neighborhood map of Los Angeles, used to denote quality of neighborhood and living.

Mapping and Making Gangland: A Legacy of Redlining and Enjoining Gang Neighbourhoods in Los Angeles

How race-based legacies of disinvestment initiated by New Deal Era redlining regimes were followed by decades of over-policing at the scale of the neighborhood.

by Stefano Bloch, Susan A. Phillips via Urban Studies on May 13, 2021

Man walking though flood in Chicago

Redlined, Now Flooding

Maps of historic housing discrimination show how neighborhoods that suffered redlining in the 1930s face a far higher risk of flooding today.

by Kriston Capps, Christopher Cannon via Bloomberg on March 15, 2021

In U.S. Cities, The Health Effects Of Past Housing Discrimination Are Plain To See

Explore maps of 142 cities to see the lingering harms of the racist lending policies known as redlining.

by Maria Godoy via NPR on November 19, 2020

Not Even Past: Social Vulnerability and the Legacy of Redlining

Juxtaposing contemporary public health data with 1930s redlining maps reveals one of the legacies of urban racial segregation.

by Ed Ayers, Robert K. Nelson, National Community Reinvestment Coalition via American Panorama on September 14, 2020

1937 Assessment Grades from the Homeowners' Loan Corporation

Mapping the Legacy of Structural Racism in Philadelphia

An interactive data report presents the impact of structural racism on Philadelphia, mapping 2019’s homicides and present day disadvantage with 1930s redlining maps.

by Rebecca Rhynhart via City Of Philadelphia on January 23, 2020

Racist Housing Practices From The 1930s Linked To Hotter Neighborhoods Today

A study of more than 100 cities shows neighborhoods subjected to discriminatory housing policies nearly a century ago are hotter today than other areas.

by Meg Anderson via NPR on January 14, 2020

America’s Formerly Redlined Neighborhoods Have Changed. So Must Solutions to Rectify Them

Are New Deal-era redlining maps still the best available tools for understanding the racial wealth gap?

by Andre M. Perry, David Harshbarger via Brookings on October 14, 2019

Home Values Remain Low in Vast Majority of Formerly Redlined Neighborhoods

The long legacy of structural racism in the New Deal-era housing market.

by Sarah Mikhitarian via Zillow Research on April 25, 2018

Redlining and Gentrification

Exploring the deep connections between redlining, gentrification, and exclusion in San Francisco.

via Urban Displacement Project on April 25, 2018

The Disturbing History of the Suburbs

Redlining: the racist housing policy from the Jim Crow era that still affects us today.

via Adam Ruins Everything on October 4, 2017

Redlining map for Decatur, Illinois

Mapping Inequality: Redlining in New Deal America

In the 1930s, the federal government created redlining maps for almost every major U.S. city. Explore those maps and their contexts in a brand new version of this project.

by N. D. B. Connolly, Robert K. Nelson, LaDale Winling, Justin Madron, Todd Michney, Richard Marciano, J. S. Hoffman, Helen C. S. Meier via American Panorama on October 12, 2016

Map of Omaha.

A History of Redlining in Omaha

Redlining in Omaha began in the 1920s. Although outlawed in the 1960s, its effects are still present in the city's demographics.

by Adam F. C. Fletcher via North Omaha History on August 2, 2015

A young boy peers out from a hole in a fence as his friends play basketball in a court where police officers are gathering for a patrol.

How White-Collar Criminals Plundered a Brooklyn Neighborhood

How East New York was ransacked by the real estate industry and abandoned by the city in the process.

by Kristen Martin via The Nation on March 20, 2025

Boylston Street, Jamaica Plain, Boston, a residential street with a bike lane and a Black Lives Matter sign.

My Street Looks Different Now: Oral History and the Anti-Redlining Movement

For residents, organizers, and onlookers, neighborhoods can be a window for witnessing and making sense of history.

by Joshua Rosen via The Metropole on October 8, 2024

Home of a Black family living in New Brighton, Pennsylvania, January 1940.

Taxed for Being Black

The long arc of racist plunder through local tax codes is shocking—or, well, maybe it’s not, really.

by Victor Ray via Democracy Journal on June 13, 2024

Map depicting existing and proposed structures and modifications to the Hayti neighborhood in Durham, NC, 1960.

The Uneven Costs of Cross-Country Connectivity

Promoted as a social and economic savior, the US federal interstate highway system acted as a tool to promote racial injustices.

by Kevin Fox Gotham, Aissa Dearing, Leland Ware, M. Ruth Little via JSTOR Daily on June 6, 2024

North Carolina Mutual executives.

Black Capitalism and the City

African American insurance and the actuarial double bind.

by Ginger Nolan via Places Journal on April 16, 2024

Block level FHA map of Cincinnati.

Pair HOLC Maps With FHA Maps To Tell A More Complete Story

The Federal Home Loan Bank Board openly admitted to operating as the Johnny Appleseed of redlining, sowing its seeds into the private financial system.

by Lawrence T. Brown via The Metropole on August 16, 2023

A collage shows a white hand segregating Black Americans.

No Breakthrough in Sight

More than fifty years after the Fair Housing Act, inequality and segregation persists. What went wrong?

by Kaila Philo via The Baffler on May 9, 2023

Bars labeled First through Fourth depicting risk levels for housing loans.

The Shame of the Suburbs

How America gave up on housing equality.

by David Denison via The Baffler on May 9, 2023

Welder-trainee Josie Lucille Owens plies her trade on the SS George Washington Carver at the Kaiser Shipyards in Richmond, CA, 1943.

Toxic Legacies of WWII: Pollution and Segregation

Wartime production led to environmental and social injustices, polluting land and bodies in ways that continue to shape public policy and race relations.

by Matthew Wills, Alistair W. Fortson via JSTOR Daily on November 27, 2022

Group of seated Black soldiers listening to staff sergeant explain G.I. Bill of Rights

How a Hostile America Undermined Its Black World War II Veterans

Service members were attacked, discredited, and shortchanged on GI benefits—with lasting implications.

by Matt Delmont via Mother Jones on October 6, 2022

Redlining is Only Part of the Story

An annotated collection of resources from the Bunk archive that help explain the long history of housing discrimination.

by Julian Maxwell Hayter on October 5, 2022

Redlined street map of the Baltimore area.

The Mapping of Race in America

Visualizing the legacy of slavery and redlining, 1860 to the present.

by Anika Fenn Gilman, Catherine Discenza, John Hessler via Library of Congress on July 28, 2022

Watts, CA - December 17: A resident is silhouetted walking through Nickerson Gardens, the largest public housing development west of the Mississippi River in Watts at sunset Friday, Dec. 17, 2021. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

How Historic Redlining Led to Extreme Heat in the Watts Community

The lack of investment in neighborhoods has resulted in communities of color living in areas far hotter than those of their white neighbors.

by Bharat Venkat via Los Angeles Times on July 27, 2022

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