I haven't been posting here as often as usual, partly because I've been working on several writing projects for publication elsewhere. The first of those projects is completed: a short essay about Waterbury for the University of Richmond's website, Mapping Inequality: Redlining in New Deal America.
"Redlining" is the term used to describe the work of the federal Home Owners' Loan Corporation which, during the 1930s, rated residential neighborhoods in cities throughout the country based on their opinion of whether or not they were good investment areas for banks. A home in a green-rated neighborhood was considered low risk for mortgages. Red-rated neighborhoods were considered high risk, discouraging banks from issuing mortgages in those neighborhoods. Residents of green neighborhoods were white; residents of red neighborhoods were Black or "a low class of foreigners."
The designations negatively impacted neighborhoods marked as red, making it difficult for homeowners and landlords to improve their properties or sell their properties. Most of Waterbury was rated as yellow, the third and next-to-lowest class. Black and immigrant neighborhoods were rated red.
Learn more about redlining and explore the maps at the Mapping Inequality website.
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