Racial Segregation and Housing
Policy
Due Wednesday 3/5 at 9 a.m.
Upload to D2L Assessments>Assignment Dropbox. 30 points
total.
Citations: At the end of the paper, list which
sources you used for each paragraph, giving me as much
information as you can. The exact formatting is not
important. You might say something like "College Humor
website time stamp 4 minutes" or "Urban renewal definition
website second paragraph." List as many items as you
consulted for each paragraph. If you don't include citations, I will deduct 5
points and you will be required to revise and resubmit with
correct citations. Please remember the citations are designed to
demonstrate you gathered your answers from the class materials,
so keep that in mind while writing. There is plenty of
information here, so no need to Google or use AI!
Assignment:
1. Write at least two double-spaced pages with reasonable margins and
font size and without large headings or titles -- I will rely on
12 point Times New Roman as my standard and I will reformat your
paper if needed. Longer papers will certainly be accepted and
read. Keep in mind this is a formal academic assignment and you
will be evaluated both on the quality of your writing and the
content of your ideas and evidence. Make sure you have a good introductory paragraph
with your argument/thesis statement.
2. Paper Question:
How and why did racial segregation become a feature
of American cities and suburbs? Describe the long-term
impact on African-Americans, and in your conclusion, speculate
how the phenomenon of "urban renewal" connected to the rise of
racial segregation.
Term #1: "Red Lining."
1. Watch this selection from "Race: The House We Live In"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mW764dXEI_8
2. Read this editorial (similar themes and facts from the video) [might take a
minute or two to load]
Racial Preferences for Whites: The Houses that Racism Built
3. Optional: Review what you learned in Chapter 19 of These Truths, see p. 723.
4. Follow at this link to an example from Durham, NC. You may also Google the
term "redlining map" and a city you are interested in. Be sure to include the
link to the map you found in your citation.
Durham, NC
Term #2: "Restrictive Covenant" or "Racial Covenant"
Even in neighborhoods that were not
officially "red lined" individuals and organizations (such as realtors selling
houses in Levittown) engaged in residential segregation on an individual basis
using a "restrictive covenant."
1.
Learn about this term here.
2. Optional: Click here for some
examples of covenants in Seattle.
3.
Read about Levittown here
(scroll down to read the "Discrimination" section; although you should read the
entire article if you are not familiar with Levittown. One pull-quote: "By 1953,
the 70,000 people who lived in Levittown constituted the largest community in
the United States with no black residents.")
4. Follow this link to the
"Mapping Prejudice" project
which is working to map these covenants in Minnesota.
Scroll down to view "our map." Again, we will be helping to expand this map!