In 2019, a 24/7 Wall St. study marked Racine, Wisconsin as the second worst city for Black Americans. In these slides and the accompanying data visualization, discover how the continuing gaps between Black and white residents of Racine are rooted in decades-old redlining practices.
2. In 1933, the Home Owners’ Loan
Corporation (HOLC) was created as part
of the New Deal in order to increase the
affordability of housing, especially home
mortgages, and arrest the momentum of
bank foreclosures during the Great
Depression.
3. This initiative made widespread
homeownership possible. But its
implementation also codified bias: the
system created to assess whether a loan
was ‘risky’ was built on color-coded maps
drawn from local assessments which were
heavily inflected by racism and
xenophobia.
4. ‘Hazardous’ areas were shaded red
and given a grade of D. Other
designations included ‘Definitely
Declining’ (C, yellow), ‘Still
Desirable’ (B, blue), and ‘Best’ (A,
green). The presence of a minority
population could have a significant
impact on whether an area was
considered ‘hazardous,’ making
getting a loan there impossible.
HOLC Map, Racine WI
Robert K. Nelson, LaDale Winling, Richard Marciano, Nathan Connolly, et al., “Mapping
Inequality,” American Panorama, ed. Robert K. Nelson and Edward L. Ayers,
accessed November 5, 2020,
https://dsl.richmond.edu/panorama/redlining/#city=racine-wi
5. Race and Ethnicity by HOLC Grade and Income by HOLC Grade in the Midwest
Bruce Mitchell and Juan Franco, “HOLC ‘Redlining’ Maps: The Persistent Structure of Segregation and Economic Inequality” (National Community
Reinvestment Coalition, 2018), https://ncrc.org/wp-content/uploads/dlm_uploads/2018/02/NCRC-Research-HOLC-10.pdf
6. HOLC Map, Racine WI
Robert K. Nelson, LaDale Winling, Richard Marciano, Nathan Connolly, et al., “Mapping Inequality,” American Panorama, ed.
Robert K. Nelson and Edward L. Ayers, accessed November 5, 2020,
https://dsl.richmond.edu/panorama/redlining/#city=racine-wi
7. HOLC Map, Racine WI
Robert K. Nelson, LaDale Winling, Richard Marciano, Nathan Connolly, et
al., “Mapping Inequality,” American Panorama, ed. Robert K. Nelson and
Edward L. Ayers, accessed November 5, 2020,
https://dsl.richmond.edu/panorama/redlining/#city=racine-wi
Property Values, Racine WI
The Eviction Lab at Princeton University https://evictionlab.org/
Note: Color scale centered at overall median property value.
8. HOLC Map, Racine WI
Robert K. Nelson, LaDale Winling, Richard Marciano, Nathan Connolly, et
al., “Mapping Inequality,” American Panorama, ed. Robert K. Nelson and
Edward L. Ayers, accessed November 5, 2020,
https://dsl.richmond.edu/panorama/redlining/#city=racine-wi
Density of Black Residents, Racine WI
The Eviction Lab at Princeton University https://evictionlab.org/
9. HOLC Map, Racine WI
Robert K. Nelson, LaDale Winling, Richard Marciano, Nathan Connolly, et
al., “Mapping Inequality,” American Panorama, ed. Robert K. Nelson and
Edward L. Ayers, accessed November 5, 2020,
https://dsl.richmond.edu/panorama/redlining/#city=racine-wi
Eviction Rates, Racine WI
The Eviction Lab at Princeton University https://evictionlab.org/
10. HOLC Map, Racine WI
Robert K. Nelson, LaDale Winling, Richard Marciano, Nathan Connolly, et
al., “Mapping Inequality,” American Panorama, ed. Robert K. Nelson and
Edward L. Ayers, accessed November 5, 2020,
https://dsl.richmond.edu/panorama/redlining/#city=racine-wi
Educational Attainment, Racine WI
U.S. Census Bureau, 2014-2018 American Community Survey, 5-Year
estimates. For Associate’s and Bachelor’s degrees, see
https://www.higherexpectationsracinecounty.org/redlining#maps
11. Reflection Questions
- In Racine, where do you see similarities between HOLC regions
and current metrics? Where do you see differences?
- If you read the HOLC comments, can you describe the present-
day conditions of one of the HOLC regions in Racine that you've
visited? What has changed since the 1930s?
- If you live in Racine, how was your neighborhood graded by
HOLC?
- The link between redlined regions and low property values is
pretty simple. How do you think redlining is linked to other metrics
examined here like educational attainment or eviction rates?
12. Further Reading
Redlining Nationally
A documentary film, "Segregated by Design": https://www.segregatedbydesign.com/
Projects from the Digital Scholarship Lab at the University of Richmond
- Mapping Inequality showing original HOLC maps and comments nationally:
- https://dsl.richmond.edu/panorama/redlining/#text=intro
- Not Even Past tracking the relationship between HOLC regions and social vulnerability:
- http://dsl.richmond.edu/socialvulnerability/
Redlining Locally
A video by Dr. Helen Meier of UW-Milwaukee Zilber School of Public Health:
https://www.datadaymke.org/ignite (first video on the page)
The Mapping Inequality project, social vulnerability for Racine:
http://dsl.richmond.edu/socialvulnerability/map/#city=racine-wi
An article in the Racine Journal Times on redlining in Racine county:
https://journaltimes.com/news/local/how-did-we-get-here-a-look-back-at-redlining-in-racine-
county/article_239b8714-55cc-5a23-ae9f-a431c27f98ec.html
