If you want a quick read on this historical underpinning of poverty and racial segregation in Richmond, this is a good start. Much of the poverty and social inequity in Richmond that we live with today is the result of this sanctioned and endorsed practice. Through selective approval of housing loans, those with power were able to shape the racial makeup of our community and affect earning potential for generations.
This is RVAMag's summary of the project by University of Richmond.
From the article:
“Mapping Inequality,” a project spearheaded by University of Richmond’s Digital Scholarship Lab (DSL) references the work of scholars at multiple universities. It aims to give the public unprecedented access to the maps and documents created by the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) in the early days of the New Deal. They detail just how specific the government was in targeting communities of color as they aimed to recover from the Great Depression.
These documents, created between 1935 and 1940, ranked neighborhoods on how eligible they were to receive mortgage loans under New Deal policy.
They are also the origin of the term “redlining,” the practice by which marginalized communities, especially Black communities, were systematically denied housing loans because of claims that they were “high risk.” These neighborhoods were outlined in red on HOLC maps.
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