Redlining in South Side Chicago
A Brief History and Analysis
Throughout the United States, today, segregation and contention of Civil Rights issues are often associated with the South, however, in reality segregation is present all over the country, one of the most prominent examples being residential segregation. A common misconception is that this segregation is de facto, meaning that it is the choice of certain groups to live in specific areas, and there is no correlation with the law. When in reality there is a long history of legalized separation that has led to present day housing segregation disparity across the country such as that of modern day Chicago.
Segregated tenement housing in the South Side of Chicago, early 1930s (CHA Archive).
Prior to the Great Depression segregation was still commonplace throughout the US, especially so in Chicago where New Deal legislation led to the creation of many predominantly African American neighborhoods throughout the city. New Deal housing legislation, in the name of not disrupting the status quo and “social structure” of the city, maintained that neighborhoods be built for specific groups of people who already inhabited the area. Therefore, white areas remained white and separate from the other neighborhoods. African Americans and other racial minority groups were relegated to less desirable housing through legal means. This type of segregation, known as de jure segregation, means that such segregation is a direct effect of the law.
According to Richard Rothstein's The Color of Law, “It would be going too far to suggest that cities like these would have evolved into integrated metropolises were it not for New Deal public housing. But it is also the case that the federal; government’s housing rules pushed these cities into a more rigid segregation than otherwise would have existed. The biracial character of many neighborhoods presented opportunities for different futures than the segregated ones that now seem so unexceptional.”
Racially driven government housing policy essentially led to redlining for public housing, which categorized neighborhoods in order to determine where the government would insure housing mortgages, a practice which helped neighborhoods to stay both economically and racially segregated.
As described in the key “A”, shown in green, is the best, whereas “D”, shown in red, is termed hazardous. These designations typically also fall under spatialized racial divides.
The West Pullman neighborhood was a project that city planners made for black residents “in an endeavor to keep the colored people within the confines of the area.” The city invested money into building a recreation center, a school, and a church, among other things. Although these were likely inherently unequal, they were built to appease black residents and to keep them away from white spaces.
West Pullman Neighborhood - (Chicago Gang History)
The West Pullman neighborhood is zoned for apartments, a typical building structure for lower income housing. While the city invested money into building a recreation center and school among other public works projects, such projects were built with the goal of keeping black and white communities separate.
West Pullman is one of the most violent neighborhoods in Chicago, with most of the crime concentrated in the northwest side of the neighborhood. The rise of crime is a direct result of redlining and the subsequent lack of investment available to its residents.
Many buffer areas were also created in order to separate “undesirable elements” from white spaces, mostly in areas listed as C. In one such area, C253, the Rock Island Suburban railroad tracks bisect the area and also mark a clear border between “still desirable” areas with mostly white residents and “hazardous areas” which consist of mostly black residents. This area is marked by slightly nicer housing, with a mixture of old architectural homes and smaller apartment buildings, yet still has industrial components, with coal yards.
The area on the other side of these tracks, labelled as B125, is a good example of a “still desirable” area of the city. Within B125 is the neighborhood of Morgan Park, whose population is majority white, with most residents owning their own properties. Many of the houses in Morgan Park are old and well kept, yet because of the proximity to the neighborhoods of color the neighborhood is considered devalued. Currently there is an initiative to only sell houses to people of color in a certain part of the neighborhood, but the houses and apartments there are much less elegant, made of brick, and in comparison to the more affluent, white part of the neighborhood, are far from equal.
Lowden Homes and Princeton Park are notorious projects that were constructed in the 1940s by the Chicago Housing Authority. These projects offered homes to impoverished black families that moved from the south to work in the war industry. White residents of these areas protested the construction of these projects, but regardless, the projects were completed in 1943.
The Lowden Homes - (Chicago Gang History)
The arrival of African Americans in the 1940s to the Englewood housing projects sparked fears and hate from this all-white community mainly because of the financial panic which brought about redlining and a lack of investing in the neighborhood. Institutions felt that the neighborhood needed renovations but lacked the disposable income necessary to enact such repairs. Moreover, African Americans were seen by their white landlords, creditors, and neighbors as less than ideal clients due to the lack of job security allotted to the African American community. The combination of these structural inequalities created a cycle of poverty that trapped generations of Englewood residents.
Englewood Neighborhood - (Urban Hell)
In a similar history to Englewood, the white residents of Washington Park objected to the arrival of African Americans and inflicted several acts of violence against black residents, trying to enforce restrictive covenants. The efforts of the white community to keep blacks out failed as more African Americans moved in during the 1910s decade especially during and after World War I.
Washington Park - (Chicago Gang History)
The battle between blacks and whites continued into the 1920s but by 1930 over 90% of the white population had left the area making Washington Park a majority African American community. The neighborhood is one of the most blighted communities in Chicago and run-down buildings, some which have been shuttered for decades, are on every block in this neighborhood. The population has dramatically plummeted, with a peak in 1950 when it was over 56,000. The population continued the rapid decline beginning in the 1970s and by 2010 it was less than 12,000, much of this decline due to high crime and property vacancies.
White flight increased in the 50s as block busting tactics pushed many out of Woodlawn. At the same time many whites that stayed protested violently against what they saw as an to attempt to push them out. By the later half of the decade more than half of the community was black.
Woodlawn Neighborhood - (Chicago Gang History)
As middle class black families pushed to get into this community, a major housing crisis began that caused many apartments to be divided more into kitchenette apartments that were ran by slumlords as the buildings deteriorated. The renovation plans of the 40s failed and building quality decreased. White flight caused redlining as the community was now at almost 90% black by 1960.
In the 1980 census African Americans made up about 50% of the Chicago South side' population while Mexicans made up 40% as a result of white flight. This led to disinvestment and redlining to the community.
South Side Chicago - (grist.org)
In 1980, the community suffered as South Works, a company in the area, laid off employees and closed more of its facilities in the neighborhood. In 1979 there were still 10,000 employees at the plant, which was a 50% reduction, but starting in 1980 thousands more were left unemployed. South Chicago soon fell into economic despair and even the industrial area of South Deering was not hiring. White flight accelerated in the early 1980s, and today South Chicago is one of the more dangerous areas of the city.
The value judgements of different areas are directly related to the maintenance of white spaces. Although many of these white spaces were originally planned out and were put into effect de jure, many of these spaces are still racially segregated due to de facto influences today. Spatially, these areas show markedly different housing styles (apartments vs. homes), price differences, and differing zoning policies. Thus, the effects of racial segregation are still felt in the South Side of Chicago, and traditionally black areas are often labelled or viewed as “iconic ghettos” to this day.
