Investments on Success
By: Liz Epstein
When choosing a house, realtors often use the phrase that the three most important things to look at are location, location, and location. Although this is somewhat a joke, the reality is that location does impact the outcomes and opportunities of one’s life. It can determine your chances at higher education, chances at a healthy life, and much more. Unfortunately, housing locations are often not a choice for lower-class or minority individuals as a result of local and federal housing policies. The term ‘redlining’ refers to the practice by the Federal Housing Administration in which ‘risky’ areas, usually neighborhoods with African Americans, were deemed unfit for investment. Simultaneously, racial covenants were used to create subdivisions for only White people, causing more racial segregation. As a result of these racially restrictive zoning ordinances and redlining, African-American neighborhoods were not invested in like the White zones and many problems arose. For this project, I created an art piece that showcased the lasting human impacts of redlining on residents in areas with and without investment.
The project is called investing on success because government investments literally impact the success of the individuals who live there. To demonstrate this, I created art of two maps of Birmingham Alabama. I chose this location because it historically has lots of redlining that led to segregation which would be beneficial for my project to show the lasting human impacts. For the first canvas, I painted out a very literal map with zones that were deemed risky based on redlining and zoning ordinances. To get this data, I used mapping data collected from a research project called “Mapping Inequality” created by four universities (University of Richmond, Virginia Tech, University of Maryland, and Johns Hopkins). I freehanded the maps so while they are not exact, they generally show the same information. As an example of a map I used, here is Birmingham, Alabama:
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Then, for the second canvas, I created a more ‘artistic’ and ‘abstract’ version in which I painted the effects of investment on human living conditions.
The tragic reality of redlining is that these human effects directly correspond to the risky areas and there is plenty of data to back that up. For this project in particular the negative aspects, I researched geographical statistics of low-income neighborhoods in order to depict accurate effects. For starters, because of the racial covenants, redlining has created lasting systemic racism by stunting black families’ growth in wealth due to the areas in which they live (Kiser). There is also a clear income and wealth gap based on the intergenerational impacts of black families living in poor areas with little investment (Kijakazi). In terms of health, Covid deaths correspond to low investment areas (NCRC), cancer clusters (Middleton), as well as higher mortality rates in general (Stuart). A lack of investment also leads to higher incarceration rates (Waterman) which again prolongs racist practices as many of these neighborhoods are predominately black. Future generational success is also determined by neighborhoods as low investment areas have worse schools, resources, activities, and opportunities for success. There are countless other effects, some showcased in my art in the ‘red’ areas. In contrast, the green areas of investment have positive outcomes on their residents’ lives. Investments lead to higher percentages of people with higher education, better fitness and health, higher incomes, and more. By juxtaposing the redlining map with its direct effects on the map next to it, I hope to show how big of a problem red-lining has created and show what change needs to happen.
My project spreads awareness of what redlining does to a community and to people’s lives in low-income areas. Even though some recognize that redlining is discriminatory to blacks, they may not be aware of all the ways it impedes their lives and this visual representation is a powerful way to highlight the problem. In order to be a part of social change, recognizing the lasting problems that our government systems have created and acknowledging that reform must be made for those in racial covenants today is essential. While I only created three maps, this problem is widespread across the entirety of the United States and has affected many families across generations.
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Works Cited
Kijakazi, Kilolo, et al. “Racial Inequities Will Grow Unless We Consciously Work to Eliminate Them.” Urban Institute, 1 July 2020, Accessed 14 November 2021, www.urban.org/urban-wire/racial-inequities-will-grow-unless-we-consciously-work-eliminate-them.
Kiser, Kim. “A City Divided.” A City Divided, 6 Oct. 2020, Accessed 14 November 2021 legacy.umn.edu/stories/a-city-divided-0.
Redfin. “Redlining's Legacy of Inequality: $212,000 Less Home Equity, Low Homeownership Rates for Black Families.” Redfin, 11 June 2020, Accessed 14 November 2021
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“Redlining and Neighborhood Health " NCRC.” NCRC, 12 Oct. 2021, Accessed 14 November 2021 ncrc.org/holc-health/.
Stuart, Dagny. “Study Finds Higher Death Rates in Poor Neighborhoods.” Vanderbilt University, Accessed 14 November 2021 news.vumc.org/2018/01/18/study-finds-higher-death-rates-in-poor-neighborhoods/.
Waterman, Morgan. “History 90.01: Topics in Digital History.” History 9001 Topics in Digital History, 31 Oct. 2016, Accessed 14 November 2021
journeys.dartmouth.edu/censushistory/2016/10/31/rough-draft-race-segregation-and-incarceration-in-the-states-1920-2010/.
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