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Little Italy, west of Chicago’s central business district, was a dense ethnic neighborhood that HOLC officials concluded was risky for residential investment. The area saw little investment until the late 1950s, when state and federal initiatives…

Portrait of Homer Hoyt, who studied at the University of Chicago, combined urban sociology and economics and became the chief housing economist at the FHA.

During his presidency, Franklin Roosevelt gave several radio addresses to explain his policies and government programs. These addresses came to be known as "fireside chats." In this photo, Roosevelt prepares to give his first fireside chat, just…

Section of the Norfolk redlining map focused on the region designated as D3 by the HOLC, otherwise known as Lambert's Point.

These three maps for the south side of Chicago illustrate the stark color line separating the Black Belt neighborhoods from white neighborhoods in the city. Even as the African American population grew in the Great Migration, the city remained…

Focused area of Lynchburg, designated as C1 by the HOLC

Brownsville, Brooklyn, depicted in this street scene, was a poor but densely settled neighborhood. It was a center of social activism--Margaret Sanger established the first birth control clinic in the United States there in 1916 and the community was…

About a quarter of the American workforce was unemployed at the lowest point of the Great Depression. When families were unable to afford food for themselves, charities often provided free meals. Al Capone, a leading organized crime figure, provided…

“Redlining” security map for Atlanta, GA

This iconic image from photographer Russell Lee depicts African American children in Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood, in the Black Belt, on Easter Sunday, 1941.