Dividing Lines: US History of Residential Segregation

Categories: On-Demand Courses
Wishlist Share
Share Course
Page Link
Share On Social Media

About Course

This two-session course will explore one of the most visible yet least well understood aspects of racial segregation in the United States: the color line in housing. While some Americans do live in racially diverse communities, by and large, the housing landscape in the US remains remarkably segregated along racial lines. These racial lines largely correspond with economic status. While there are certainly many well-to-do white people in cities (and many expensive, exclusive urban neighborhoods) and many middle class and wealthy people of color in suburbs, in the aggregate, across the country inner-city neighborhoods tend to be disproportionately minority – and poor – in composition and suburbs tend to be disproportionately white, and wealthier. This course will explore the long history that has produced today’s segregated residential landscape, paying particular attention to the role of government at all levels in instituting housing policies that have historically advantaged whites and disadvantaged blacks.

Show More

What Will You Learn?

  • Recognize and explain the various 20th-century policies and laws that have created and reinforced residential segregation, such as zoning regulations, lending policies, mortgage and real estate practices, school district policies, and housing covenants.
  • Understand the role of government at different levels in establishing housing policies that historically advantaged white Americans and disadvantaged African Americans.
  • Analyze the operation of racially restrictive zoning and housing covenants, the barriers that prevented people of color from participating in the suburbanization of the mid-20th century, and the long-term impact of this systematic exclusion.
  • Investigate historical incidents of violent resistance to African American home ownership in traditionally white neighborhoods, understanding the social and economic motives behind such resistance.
  • Discuss and contextualize modern instances of racial tension and violence related to housing segregation, drawing parallels between past and contemporary events.
  • Engage with a range of academic texts to develop a nuanced understanding of the intersection of race, economics, and housing in the United States.

Course Content

Segregated by Design
This class session will explore the range of 20th-century policies and laws (zoning regulations, lending policies, mortgage & real estate practices, school district policies, housing covenants, etc.) that intersected with private prejudice and economic inequity to create and reinforce residential segregation across the US. Particular attention will be devoted to the ways that racially restrictive zoning and restrictive housing covenants operated, the barriers preventing people of color from participation in the mid-century suburbanization of the United States, and the long-term consequences of this systematic exclusion.

  • Segregated by Design (A short film)
    17:42
  • The Color of Law, chapters preface, 3-6, and 8
  • Lecture: Segregated by Design
    01:31:04

Rocks and Riots
Our second class session will focus on the violent resistance that confronted African Americans who, against all odds, managed to find avenues to purchase homes or arrange rentals in white neighborhoods. Examining the murderous 1925 riot outside the Sweet family’s newly-purchased Detroit home; the physical violence directed against the Clark and Howard families in 1950s Chicago; and the hostile obstruction dogging the Mays’ family’s 1957 attempt to purchase a home in San Francisco, will illustrate the various forms of resistance engaged in by white Americans determined to “protect” their neighborhoods in the face of what they perceived as an “invasion” that would degrade their property values. This historical context will provide vital framing for considering the broader issues surrounding a racially-charged housing clash on Long Island that ended in death in 2006.

Student Ratings & Reviews

No Review Yet
No Review Yet