How redlining prevented Black and Brown families from becoming home owners

The term "redlining" refers to the practice by banks of excluding Black and Brown Americans from receiving loans to buy homes and make improvements to their communities. Redlining arose during the Great Depression, when the federal government sought to boost homeownership by encouraging banks to lend to more Americans. Many neighborhoods, specifically those with majority Black and Brown residents, were deemed undeserving of these loans. Though redlining was made illegal by the Fair Housing Act, the effects of this practice still reverberate to this day.

In this video, Khalil Gibran Muhammad, Ford Foundation Professor of History, Race, and Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School and director of the Institutional Antiracism and Accountability Project, provides background on the history and legacy of redlining.

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