Supplements
The Homeowners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) was established by the federal government in the aftermath of the Great Depression, through the Home Owners' Loan Act of 1933. The organization's goals were to limit foreclosures and stabilize the housing market. The HOLC drew up maps of thousands of American cities between the years of 1935 to 1940. The Northern and Southern parts of Chicago’s map is shown above. The maps gave each residential neighborhood a grade from A to D based on quality of housing, sale value, but also the race and ethnicity of the residents. In explanations of grades, it was common to see descriptions of “infiltrations” of African American, Jews, or other non-"white" ethnicities.
These maps were created to “protect” banks after the banking crisis of the Great Depression. Because of these maps' outsized influence on banks' willingness to back mortgages, those living in poorly rated neighborhoods (mostly African Americans and other people of color) found mortgage financing far more difficult and homeownership nearly impossible.
When comparing the HOLC’s maps to the African American population map, there is a clear correlation between race and rating: while African American populations parallel with lower neighborhood grades, predominantly white neighborhoods receive high ratings. African Americans were unfairly targeted through these redlining practices. As highlighted in the African American population map, the areas between 35th and 67th were majority African American; subsequently, that area was rated the lowest grade of D, warning banks to not loan there.
See the annotations on each of the above maps for examples of what the HOLC identified as desirable and undesirable neighborhoods.
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- Daniel Aaronson, Daniel Hartley, and Bhashkar Mazumder, “The Effects of the 1930s HOLC ‘Redlining’ Maps,” American Economic Journal: Economic Policy 13, no. 4 (2021): 2. ↵
- Robert K. Nelson, LaDale Winling, Richard Marciano, et. al., “Mapping Inequality,” American Panorama: An Atlas of United States History, accessed April 15, 2023. https://dsl.richmond.edu/panorama/redlining/. ↵
- D. Bradford Hunt, “Redlining”, Encyclopedia of Chicago, accessed April 15, 2023, http://encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/1050.html. ↵
