Red Lines, Real Consequences: A Review of Redlining and Its Enduring Effects on African American Communities
Abstract
This review paper will discuss Redlining, the discriminatory practice of denying financial services to neighborhoods based on race or ethnicity, began in the 1930s as a method of housing discrimination that profoundly shaped American society. Through the Home Owners' Loan Corporation (HOLC), neighborhoods were rated by "investment risk," with red lines drawn on maps to mark areas where banks and federal agencies refused to invest, predominantly targeting African American communities. This practice, combined with other discriminatory tactics like steering and blockbusting, denied African Americans access to homeownership and wealth-building opportunities while directing white families toward desirable suburban areas with favorable mortgage terms. The consequences extended beyond housing access, as redlined neighborhoods suffered from deteriorating infrastructure, underfunded schools, limited public services, and poor health outcomes, with residents experiencing a 3.6-year lower life expectancy. Although the Fair Housing Act of 1968 prohibited such discrimination, the legacy of redlining persists today through continued disparities in homeownership rates, educational opportunities, and health outcomes, demonstrating how historical housing discrimination continues to preserve racial inequalities in America today.
References
Berkeley Public Health. "How Redlining Continues to Impact Housing and Health." Berkeley Public Health Review, vol. 14, no. 1, 2021, pp. 112–128.
Bisceglia, J. G. "Blockbusting: Judicial and Legislative Response to Real Estate Dealers' Excesses." DePaul Law Review, vol. 22, 1972, p. 818.
"Redlining's Lingering Health Effects." Bloomberg, 23 May 2019, www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-05-23/childhood-asthma-a-lingering-effect-of-redlining.
California Budget & Policy Center. Redlining's Impact on Education and Workforce Outcomes. California Budget & Policy Center, 2022.
California Department of Justice. Interim Report of the California Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans. California Department of Justice, 2021.
California Newsreel. "Race and Housing Policies: A Documentary Transcript." www.newsreel.org/transcripts/race3.htm.
California Real Estate Association. Pamphlet. California State Archives, 1948.
C-SPAN. "President Lyndon B. Johnson Signs the Fair Housing Act." YouTube, uploaded by C-SPAN, 11 Apr. 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=BN7tMJvlDNU.
Duncan, M., Hood, E. T., and Neet, J. L. "Redlining Practices, Racial Resegregation, and Urban Decay." Urban Lawyer, vol. 7, 1975, p. 510.
Eastland, James. Congressional Record. U.S. Government Printing Office, 1957.
Galster, George. "Racial Steering in Urban Housing Markets." The Review of Black Political Economy, vol. 18, no. 3, 1990, pp. 105–129.
Hall, Matthew S., Jeffrey M. Timberlake, and Emily Johns-Wolfe. "Racial Steering in U.S. Housing Markets." Socius, vol. 9, 2023.
History.com Editors. "How the Interstate Highway System Sparked Racial Segregation." History.com, A&E Television Networks, 6 May 2021, www.history.com/news/interstate-highway-system-infrastructure-construction-segregation.
Holmes, Andrew, and Paul Horvitz. "Mortgage Redlining: Race, Risk, and Demand." The Journal of Finance, vol. 49, no. 1, 1994, pp. 81–99.
Home Owners' Loan Corporation. "Appraisal Report: Oakland, CA." Mapping Inequality Project, www.dsl.richmond.edu/panorama/redlining/.
"Sundown Towns: A Historical Perspective." HowStuffWorks, www.history.howstuffworks.com/american-history/sundown-towns.htm.
Hunter, W. C. "Discrimination in Mortgage Lending." Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, July 1995.
"Redlining and Mortgage Insurance Policies." The Journal of Urban History, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/2962479.
Klepper, Charles. "America's Blind Spot: The Devastating Impact of Residential Segregation." In A Sheltered Crisis: The State of Fair Housing in the Eighties, U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, 1983, p. 162.
Lathan, Nina. "50 Years after Being Outlawed, Redlining Still Drives Neighborhood Health Inequities." Berkeley Public Health, UC Regents.
Library of Congress. "African American Family in Front of Home." www.loc.gov/item/2017764781/.
Massey, Douglas S., and Nancy A. Denton. American Apartheid: Segregation and the Making of the Underclass. Harvard University Press, 1993.
McCall, T., K. Asuzu, C. R. Oladele, T. I. Leung, and K. H. Wang. "A Socio-Ecological Approach to Addressing Digital Redlining in the United States." Frontiers in Digital Health, vol. 4, 2022, p. 897250.
McKnight, John L., and John P. Kretzmann. Mapping Community Capacity. Northwestern University, 1990.
Meyer, J., and A. Eshraghi. "Analysis on the Persisting Effects of Redlining on Green Infrastructure in Chicago Neighborhoods." Socially Responsible Modeling, Computation, and Design, vol. 3, no. 1, 2023.
Mid-American Regional Council. "The History of Racial Discrimination in Housing Still Impacts the Kansas City Region Today." MARC, 2 Mar. 2023.
Nickinson III, E. P. "The Statute of Limitations in the Fair Housing Act: Trap for the Unwary." Fla. St. UL Rev., vol. 5, 1977, p. 128.
"Housing Discrimination in Oregon during WWII." Oregon State Archives, www.sos.oregon.gov/archives/exhibits/ww2/Pages/life-race.aspx.
Orser, Edward. Blockbusting in Baltimore: The Edmondson Village Story. University Press of Kentucky, 1997.
PBS. "Blockbusting: A Firsthand Account." YouTube, uploaded by PBS, 5 Mar. 2020, www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUNJTV1DuOk.
Rheingold, Ira, Michael Fitzpatrick, and Andrew Hofeld Jr. "From Redlining to Reverse Redlining: A History of Obstacles for Minority Homeownership in America." Clearinghouse Review, vol. 34, 2000, p. 642.
Richardson, Jason, and Hayley Meier. "The Lasting Impact of Historic Redlining on Neighborhood Health." NCRC.
Rothstein, Richard. "A Forgotten History of How the U.S. Government Segregated America." NPR, 3 May 2017, www.npr.org/2017/05/03/526655831/a-forgotten-history-of-how-the-u-s-government-segregated-america.
Tough, R. "The Life Cycle of the Home Owners' Loan Corporation." Land Economics, vol. 27, no. 4, 1951, pp. 324–331.
University of Maryland. "The Thick Red Line: The Lasting Effects of Redlining." terp.umd.edu/the-thick-red-line.
Vermeer, Danielle. "Redlining and Environmental Racism." University of Michigan, School for Environment and Sustainability.
Wachter, Susan M., and Ifeanyi F. Megbolugbe. "Impacts of Housing and Mortgage Market Discrimination." Housing Policy Debate, 1992.
Yinger, John. Closed Doors, Opportunities Lost: The Continuing Costs of Housing Discrimination. Russell Sage Foundation, 1995.
Zenou, Yves, and Nicolas Boccard. "Racial Discrimination and Redlining in Cities." Journal of Urban Economics, vol. 48, no. 2, 2000, pp. 260–285.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Jahin Claire Oh
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
