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On October 21st, 1909, 125 residents of an affluent Minneapolis neighborhood
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approached William Simpson, who'd just bought a plot in the area,
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and told him to leave.
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The Simpsons would be the second Black family
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in the otherwise white neighborhood, where they intended to build a home.
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When the Simpsons refused offers to buy them out,
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their neighbors tried blocking their home's construction.
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They finally moved into their house, but the incident had a ripple effect.
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Just a few months after the mob harassed the Simpsons,
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the first racially restrictive covenant was put into place in Minneapolis.
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Covenants are agreements in property deeds that are intended to regulate
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how the property is to be used.
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Beginning in the mid-1800s,
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people in the United States and elsewhere began employing them in a new way:
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specifically, to racially restrict properties.
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They wrote clauses into deeds that were meant to prevent all future owners
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from selling or leasing to certain racial and ethnic groups,
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especially Black people.
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Between 1920 and 1950,
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these racial covenants spread like wildfire throughout the US,
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making cities more segregated and the suburbs more restricted.
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In the county encompassing Minneapolis,
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racial covenants eventually appeared on the deeds to more than 25,000 homes.
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Not only was this legal,
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but the US Federal Housing Administration
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promoted racial covenants in their underwriting manual.
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While constructing new homes,
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real estate developers began racially restricting them from the outset.
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Developments were planned as dream communities for American families—
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but for white people only.
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In 1947, one company began building what became widely recognized
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as the prototype of the postwar American suburb: Levittown, New York.
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It was a community of more than 17,000 identical homes.
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They cost around $7,000 each and were intended to be affordable
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for returning World War II veterans.
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But, according to Levittown's racial covenants, none of the houses
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could “be used or occupied by any person other than members of the Caucasian race,”
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with one exception: servants.
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Between 1950 and 1970,
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the population of the American suburbs nearly doubled
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as white people flocked to more racially homogenous areas
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in a phenomenon known as “white flight.”
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The suburbs spread,
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replacing native ecosystems with miles of pavement and water-guzzling lawns.
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And their diffuse layout necessitated car travel.
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American automobile production quadrupled between 1946 and 1955,
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cementing the nation's dependence on cars.
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Federal programs like the G.I. Bill offered American veterans
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favorable lending rates for buying homes.
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But it was difficult for people of color to take advantage of such resources.
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Racial covenants restricted them from certain neighborhoods.
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And, at the same time, government programs labelled neighborhoods of color
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bad investments and often refused to insure mortgages in those areas.
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Therefore, banks usually wouldn't lend money to people purchasing property
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in neighborhoods of color— a practice that became known as redlining.
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So, instead of owning homes that increased in value over time,
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creating wealth that could be passed to future generations,
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many people of color were forced to spend their income on rent.
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And even when they were able to buy property,
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their home's value was less likely to increase.
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The suburbs boasted cul-de-sacs and dead ends that minimized traffic.
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Meanwhile, city planners often identified redlined neighborhoods
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as inexpensive areas for industrial development.
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So, the massive freeway projects of the mid-20th century
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disproportionately cut through redlined neighborhoods,
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accompanied by heavy industry and pollution.
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As a result, many neighborhoods of color experience higher rates
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of drinking water contamination, asthma, and other health issues.
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People targeted by racial covenants increasingly challenged them in court
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and, in 1968, they were finally banned under the Fair Housing Act.
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But the damage had been done.
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Racial covenants concentrated wealth and amenities in white neighborhoods
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and depressed the conditions and home values in neighborhoods of color.
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As of 2020, about 74% of white families in the US owned their homes,
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while about 44% of Black families did.
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That gap is greatest in Minnesota's Twin Cities.
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Across the country, neighborhoods remain segregated
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and 90% of all suburban counties are predominantly white.
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Some landlords, real estate agents, and lenders
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still discriminate against people based on race—
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rejecting them, steering them to and away from certain neighborhoods,
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or providing inaccessibly high interest rates.
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Gentrification and exclusionary zoning practices also still displace
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and keep people of color out of certain neighborhoods.
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Racial covenants are now illegal.
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But they can still be seen on many housing deeds.
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The legacy of racial covenants is etched across the pristine lawns
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of the American suburbs.
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It's a footnote in the demographic divides of every city.
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And it's one of the insidious architects of the hidden inequalities
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that shape our world.