In 1961, former slave Clyde Ross purchased a house in Lawndale, Chicago with his wife. To them, this was a huge success as Ross had spent much of his life living under the regime of sharecropping in the South. However, his success soon backfired on him as he and his wife were exploited under his “on contract” agreement on the house (Coates, p. 57). Under these contracts, previous homeowners keep the deed on the house until it is paid off in full. Extremely challenging terms were usually made in these contracts, such as missing a single payment would cause the tenant to forfeit the contract altogether, and lose the initial down payment and any previous monthly payments on the house (Coates, p. 57). The contractors would do this systematically, …show more content…
Neighborhoods that had black populations in them were often rated a D, and could not receive the insurance. Overtime, Lawndale and neighborhoods like it turned into ghettos from the lack of maintenance and the continual exploitation of black families who could never pay off the houses. Today, 92% of the population is black, the homicide rate is 45 per every 100,000 which is three times higher than the overall average in the city (Coates, p. 59). The infant mortality rate in Lawndale is 14 per every 100,000 – double the national average and 43% of the people residing in Lawndale live below the poverty line, which is also double the national average (Coates, p. 59). The story of Clyde Ross and Lawndale is just one example of the obstacles faced by blacks even after slavery was abolished. It is clear that it was specifically black families that were targeted by contract sellers and that were bypassed by the FHA to be given insurance. The appearance of equality overshadowed the reality of the situation for blacks, which was that they were frequently exploited and contained in neighborhoods that did not receive governmental assistance, while whites were benefitting from the new governmental agencies while many of them simultaneously
Coates states that the exploitation of blacks for cheap labor in the form of slavery “constituted 59 percent of the country’s exports,” which created an economic basis for America (Coates, 2014). The sale of slaves, which allowed for loans, interests, and insurances to be used, also helped fuel American wealth. In the process, the sale of slaves dismantled and destroyed black families. After slavery ended, blacks were forced into sharecropping, which left many blacks indebted to their former slave owners. As a result, Clyde Ross’ family, as well as many other African-Americans, had their land and other possessions taken away to pay for their debts (Coates,
In the article The Construction of the Ghetto by Massey and Denton, there are several policies and practices that still has its effect on racial structure today. Among the several practices and policies are the Government Issue (GI) Bill for veterans and housing loans. At a political view, the GI Bill for veterans helped them buy houses at a lower price due to their contribution in the war. Since White veterans have the GI Bill, they moved out to the suburbs during 1940-1970, which was during the time of suburbanization. Because Black veterans did not receive the GI Bill, they were unable to move out and buy houses. This effect is still present today, considering that in the statistics, Blacks are less likely than Whites to own houses.
"If a white man defaulted, it was an individual defection; if a colored man failed, the whole race was at fault." (p. 138) Robert was shot in the head during the war and the injury contributed to his blindness later in life. Even so, he was denied his request for a pension because of race. Robert was very focused on educating his children into becoming outstanding members of both the black and white communities to promote a positive reflection on the black community. Robert’s struggle to secure an identity for himself and his children underlines the social discrepancies that define this
T.H. Breen's and Stephen Innes’s book "Myne Owne Ground" does and outstanding job of pointing out the difference in perspectives when it came to living in the south and being black was like. It goes in depth and shows how a black person was competent and was capable to acquire a wealth that was comparable to a wealthy white man, but it is never recognized by the general white population. The authors make an argument that in early colonial Virginia blacks that owned property were able to live semi-normal, if not prosperous, racism free lives. Breen and Innes argue that before the Virginia slave codes were passed, property owning blacks had a chance to be viewed as
For far too long, African Americans have been neglected the rights to decent and fair housing. In “In Darkness and Confusion,” William Jones expresses his discontentment with the almost cruel living conditions of the ghettos in Harlem as he stated, “It ain’t a fit place to live, though” (Petry 261). William was especially motivated to move to a better home to protect his wife, Pink’s, ailing health. William and Pink searched high and low for more decent places to live – however, they simply could not afford decent. Though marketed to those with lower than average incomes, the ‘better’ housing for blacks were still deficient and extremely pricy. In
During the mid-20th century there was much racial discrimination, specifically in home ownership. During this period there was mass immigration of Southern blacks to the north. In Lawndale Chicago, there was adverse reactions to this. As the
The development of sharecropping was associated with the endless debt cycles that afflicted the entire South well into the twentieth century. The freedmen endured an economic status likened to peonage, (Bowles, 2011) in addition to having their hopes for political and social equality dashed. The entire South suffered, it was the freedmen who paid the highest price. Ignorant and impoverished, they were easy targets for exploitation by landlords (Bowles, 2011) and merchants alike; moreover, their options were limited by the overt racism in the South, legal restrictions and partiality. Sharecropping resulted from the intense explicit or implicit desire of white Southerners to keep blacks subservient to them. African Americans possessed few skills, and those they did possess related almost exclusively to agricultural production; they owned no property but the clothes on their backs; (Bowles, 2011) Many dreamed of "forty acres and a mule" with which to begin life anew as an integrated part of American society and the proprietor of one's own land. Inside of a year, however, a different reality became obvious to most. By 1868, land confiscation and redistribution was not in the realm of American political possibility. Desperation, familiarity with people and surroundings at the old places coupled with reunion of many lost loved ones, as well as the urgings of
According to Daily Life... (Kaldin, 2000) the population of suburban areas during the 1950s had started to double from 36 million to 74 million. This rise in suburban residents had continued from 1950 to 1970.When more families had started to move to suburban areas, they came together by adding things such as playgrounds, libraries, and schools to the neighborhood to benefit their kids. This “flight to the suburbs” was difficult for blacks because of the racism in society at the time. Many black people were ignored and shunned at this time in society, so it was hard for blacks to move into suburbs knowing that they could be ridiculed in these areas because of their skin color.
The readings for this week fall under the umbrella of “Issues in Housing Policy”, more specifically race, discrimination and segregation. Looking at this topic with the naked eye may lead one to conclude that these issues are age-old, but by looking at the occurrences within the housing policy we can very much conclude that these drawbacks still remain and are salient to the present. To begin, the Schwartz piece highlights that housing policies are mandated to condemn the discriminatory practices that plague real estate and mortgage markets, where African-Americans and other minorities are at a “decided disadvantage”. However, the federal laws passed, such as the Fair Housing Act of 1968, prohibiting racial discrimination by real estate
Racial segregation has had a long history in Chicago. While separation by nationality had always been apparent in the city, with neighborhoods typically being dominated by a certain ethnicity, no group of Chicagoans experienced the degree of segregation that African Americans faced in everything from the housing districts to public services. Forced to live only in designated areas by de facto segregation, redlining, and other tactics, they had limited chances to escape the cycle of danger and discrimination of the city. Confined to only their deteriorating neighborhoods,they had little chance.
It was a way to constraint African Americans to areas that were far away from those with status, class, and power. Segregation led to discrimination in economic opportunities, housing, and education. The black culture has suffered from the barriers that were placed through segregation. However, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Fair Housing Act of 1968 tried to limit some of the discrimination associated with segregation. It was discovered that even a “rising economic status had little or no effect on the level of segregation that blacks experience” (Massey and Denton 87). The authors imply that “black segregation would remain a universal high” (Massey and Denton 88). The problem with the continuing causes in Segregation is that even though the Fair Housing act was placed, many realtors still discriminate against blacks “through a series of ruses, lies, and deceptions, makes it hard for them to learn about, inspect, rent, or purchase homes in white neighborhoods” (Massey and Denton 97). Segregation and discrimination have a cumulative effect over time. Massey and Denton argued that the “act of discrimination may be small and subtle, together they have a powerful cumulative effect in lowering the probability of black entry into white neighborhood” (98). William Julius Wilson had
The socioeconomic of the suburban neighborhoods were much different than the cities neighborhoods. The suburban neighborhoods were more affluent and whiter. In other researches have tried stratifying the movers by the level of educational attainment in the new neighborhood and have found that the male children of house holds that moved to neighborhoods with a lower average of educational attainment had a higher mortality rate and that in the majority of cases the cause of death was
Most colored people have it hard in the first place, but to top it off, access to sufficient housing is unfair. In Chicago, the city is ranked in the top ten of residential segregation for housing. Despite the Fair Housing Act of 1968, this is still occurring.
Just like the big banking problems, blacks had problems with buying houses but created a way for them to buy the houses. Buying a house on contract was horrid, on contract houses the buyer would have to put a down payment as much as one thousand dollars and if he had not paid the monthly amount his house would be evicted
Due to the discriminatory housing policies of the 20th century, millions of white families were able to obtain high quality homes (and enjoy the additional wealth that homeownership generated) while blacks were denied equal access to that prosperity. While the Fair Housing Act of 1968 did eliminate the overt discriminatory practices of the U.S. housing market, it did not redistribute wealth or effectively desegregate black and white neighborhoods. Decades of white wealth accumulation occurred while blacks earned little to no wealth as renters or buyers in low income areas (1001 Lecture 16, Racism and Discrimination). Blacks also had access to fewer resources due to residential segregations redlining preventing investment in ethnic neighborhoods, meaning their opportunities to achieve social mobility were even further hindered by their environment. The legacies of residential segregation can most clearly be seen today in the form of social stratification, where whites have dominated all other races at the top of the social hierarchy, while blacks have been put on the bottom.