The Government Created “The Ghetto”
Pretty much everyone is familiar with the concept of “the ghetto”. These are predominantly black neighborhoods in cities around the United States that have an elevated level of crime and poverty. But fewer people realize that the ghettos were actually created on purpose by the US government. In the 1930’s, the Federal Housing Administration came up with a policy of “redlining”, which meant that they refused to insure the mortgages of African Americans. And it was literally written into agreements with new housing builders that they should refuse to sell homes to black people in white neighborhoods. This made it nearly impossible for black people to become homeowners, so they continued to rent without building any sort of personal wealth. This was improved with The Fair Housing Act of 1968. But there are still prejudices in the law to this very day.
How did we find this stuff? Here are our sources:
Poorhouses Were Designed to Punish People For Their Poverty. Erin Blakemore. History. 2018.
Poor Us: An Animated History of Poverty. The Why YouTube Channel.
Over the Hill to the Poor Farm: Rural History Almost Forgotten. Michael R. Daley Ph.D. Murray State University. 2016.
‘Begging Without Shame’: Medieval Mendicant Orders Relied on Contributions. Chausa. 2017
Finding peace in a life sold for $2. New York Post. 2013.
Poor People More Likely to be Murdered. The Guardian. 2004.
Racial Segregation and Concentrated Poverty: The History of Housing in Black America. The Root. 2021.