Racial Segregation and Concentrated Poverty: The History of Housing in Black America

The Root: "On Jan. 26, 2021, President Joe Biden signed four executive orders designed to address racial equity in the United States. With one particular action Biden hopes to right the historical wrongs Black folks have faced when it comes to housing and homeownership in this country. Per a White House statement, “He will direct …

How Cities Change: Housing Market In US Is Broken, Needs More Creative Options

Younger generations can no longer afford to live in urban and many suburban areas in the US because land and housing prices have skyrocketed into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Starter homes are no longer within reach, as the NYT reported. Diverse patterns of living arrangements across families, communities, and plots of land were far …

Whites-Only Suburbs: How the New Deal Shut Out Black Homebuyers

Retro Report: "Race-based federal lending rules from New Deal programs in the 1930s kept Black families locked out of suburban neighborhoods, a policy that continues to slow economic mobility." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQXomCSD_WU Educators, sign up for our newsletter to receive the upcoming lesson plan: http://bit.ly/RRnewsED This video is released in partnership with TIME magazine: https://time.com/ Sign up …

A New Housing Program to Fight Poverty Has An Unexpected History

Retro Report: "In the 1970s, a landmark Supreme Court case named Gautreaux officially brought an end to segregated government housing in Chicago. But it also created a new challenge: how to undo decades of segregation." More on the Gautreaux Project, the only anti-poverty housing project endorsed by both Democratic and Republican administrations. See also the …

Kitty Genovese’s Murder Was Not Just a Symbol of Urban Alienation

Her death in 1965, when supposedly no one came to her rescue when she was mugged in New York City, was hailed by the media, particularly The New York Times, as a symbol of urban alienation and depersonalization, that people in cities did not care about one another the way they did in small towns. …

Boss Tweed, Tammany Hall, NYC, Urban Political Machines and Corruption

"Tammany Hall was a political powerhouse in New York City from 1789 until its slow unraveling in the mid-1960s. Boss Tweed and others would become infamous for corruption and the embezzlement of millions in taxpayer dollars." -- Daily Dose Documentary. Many videos on Youtube.com. Tammany Hall, also known as the Society of St. Tammany, the …

Great Stink of 1858: Past and Future of Waste

Nearly every online list of environmental catastrophes and disasters lists 20th century events. But of course they occurred in previous centuries, but people tended to think they were unavoidable. Pervasive horse manure in city streets, for example, before the invention of the automobile was considered a necessary cost of moving around. Clean drinking water was …

Al Capone’s Downfall in 1931

Al Capone, sometimes known by the nickname "Scarface", was an American gangster and businessman who attained notoriety during the Prohibition era as the co-founder and boss of the Chicago Outfit. His seven-year reign as a crime boss ended when he went to prison at the age of 33. Wikipedia. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axd6KWtytr8&t=38s UNUM Ken Burns: "In 1931, Al …

New York Draft Riots of 1863 Were Inspiration for ‘Gangs of New York’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHVUPri5tjA The well-reviewed Martin Scorsese movie, "Gangs of New York" was not historically accurate, in a precise sense, but was inspired by events in the Five Points neighborhood of New York in 1863, called the "draft riots," an insurrection. Another clip from the movie, with age restrictions, is available on youtube.com, but cannot be embedded. …

Why Did We Build High-Rise Public Housing Projects?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eGTU_uXLKk City Beautiful: "In the spring of 2007, the Chicago Housing Authority demolished the last of the 28 buildings in the Robert Taylor Homes housing project. Robert Taylor Homes is one of several high profile housing project demolitions, from St. Louis’s Pruitt-Igoe to fellow Chicago project Cabrini Green. The demolitions serve as an admission that …