Brownsville, Brooklyn, NY
Area Descriptions
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 renowned for residents’ socialist leanings. In Brooklyn, NY, the Brownsville area description lists detrimental influences as “Congestion. Poor upkeep. Lack of pride. Pushcart vendors and curb markets. Elevated structures Fulton Street—Atlantic Ave. Railroad and industry to the East and South. Mixture of races. Communistic type of people, who agitated ‘rent strikes’ some time ago.”
Franklin Roosevelt
Origins of the Red Line
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 after taking office, in March of 1933 to discuss the banking crisis.
March 12, 1933
Breadline during the Great Depression
Great Depression
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 this soup kitchen in Chicago, Illinois during the Depression.
African American youth in Chicago
Great Migration
This iconic image from photographer Russell Lee depicts African American children in Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood, in the Black Belt, on Easter Sunday, 1941.
Russell Lee
Chicago's Black Belt, 1930, 1940, and 1960
Great Migration
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 segregated.
Atlanta HOLC Map
Redlining Edited
“Redlining” security map for Atlanta, GA
HOLC
San Francisco HOLC map
Redlining Edited
“Redlining” security map for San Francisco, CA
HOLC
Richard Ely
Social Science and Land Economics
Portrait of Richard Ely. Ely had formed strong ties between the academy and private sector, putting him in a strong position to advise when Congress created the HOLC and FHA. Ely had advised the National Association of Real Estate Boards (NAREB) in Chicago and helped found a professional society for real estate appraisers.
Homer Hoyt
Social Science and Land Economics
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.
Little Italy
Area Descriptions
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 demolished the area, creating and interstate expressway and the campus of the University of Illinois-Chicago in its place. The HOLC's area description for the Little Italy neighborhood illustrated the geographic shifts of populations: “Population is predominantly Italian; there is a marked infiltration of negro from the area on the south who, in turn, are driving the Italians into the section on the north. Most properties are little better than minimum shelter and rents here are about as low as it is possible to imagine....As a residential area, it has no future, but a slum clearance project could well be located in this district. Neighborhood is graded fourth class because of the presence of so many adverse influences and the absence of anything favorable.”