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