Redlining began in the 1930s when federal housing maps labeled Black neighborhoods as “high risk,” blocking families from home loans, wealth-building, and equal opportunity. Though outlawed in 1968, the legacy of redlining still shapes Black communities today through mortgage discrimination, lower home valuations, underfunded schools, and environmental injustice. This post exposes how the system never truly ended — it simply evolved. | Stanley Blackburn

Redlining: How Government Drew Maps to Segregate The U.S. government literally drew maps to decide which neighborhoods Black people could live in. In the 1930s, the Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC) created "security maps" of 250 American cities, color-coding neighborhoods based on racial makeup: Green for white ("Best"), Yellow for declining ("mixed races"), and Red for "Hazardous" where Black people lived. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and the National Community Reinvestme