Redlining

U.S. History

(noun)

The practice of denying, or increasing the cost of services such as banking, insurance, access to jobs, access to health care, or even supermarkets to residents in particular areas. It describes the practice of marking a red line on a map to delineate the area where banks would not invest. Later the term was applied to discrimination against a particular group of people (usually by race or sex) no matter the geography.

Related Terms

Sociology

(noun)

Redlining is the practice of increasing the cost of services such as banking and insurance or denying access to jobs, health care, or even supermarkets to residents in particular areas.

Related Terms

Examples of Redlining in the following topics:

  • Institutional Prejudice or Discrimination

    • Institutionalized discrimination within the housing market also includes practices like redlining and mortgage discrimination.
    • Institutionalized discrimination within the housing market also includes practices like redlining and mortgage discrimination.

  • Suburbanization

    • These racist practices, called redlining, barred African-Americans from pursuing home ownership, even when they could afford it.
    • Suburban expansion was reserved for middle-class white people, facilitated by increasing wages in the postwar economy and by federally guaranteed mortgages that were only available to whites because of redlining.
    • Insurance companies also fueled the push out of cities and the growth of suburbs, as it redlined many inner-city neighborhoods.

  • The Growth of Suburbs

    • The post-World War II growth of the American suburbs was facilitated by the development of zoning laws, redlining, and numerous innovations in transport and contributed to major segregation trends and decline of inner city neighborhoods.
    • The growth of suburbs was facilitated by the development of zoning laws, redlining, and numerous innovations in transport.

  • Racism

    • ., redlining).

  • The Great Migration and the "Promised Land"

    • Mortgage discrimination and redlining in inner-city areas limited the newer African American migrants' ability to determine their own housing or obtain a fair price.

  • Racism

    • ., redlining).
    • The figure below illustrates structural racism by illustrating how blacks and Hispanics, even when they have the same income as whites, are less likely to be approved for home mortgages (as a result of practices like redlining).