History Final Paper (Essay Sample)

Introduction During the period immediately following World War II, as the nation awakened and began the process of revitalization and expansion, the benefits of this progress were not shared equally throughout all communities. African Americans precisely encountered systematic discrimination from political entities and housing organizations that denied them access to housing opportunities. From the perspective of history, it is worth noting that these residents weren't allowed to reside in good neighborhoods; a web of practice — from the laying out of zoning laws as drawn up by the Federal Housing Association and to real estate praxis that was purposefully discriminatory — actively excluded the Black community from moving to areas they would want to live in. In this paper, we look at how politicians, banks, real estate agents, title insurance companies, and housing restrictions conspired to thwart African Americans from having access to housing, and to the extent that entrenched this as a cycle of poor wealth building and paralyzed specific Black communities from prosperity. Laws of Zoning and Racial Covenants The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) was a glaring example of the implementation of Zoning Laws and Racial Covenants in the 1930s. The FHA, a key player in the housing market, was at the heart of helping draft maps that branded certain areas as "not suitable for investment,” especially in areas inhabited by Black or mixed-race communities. These maps were not mere representations; they played a very significant role; through these maps, banks and other institutions ensured that families were denied mortgages if they resided in specific areas; this was zoning laws in action, in a way, drawing lines in the sand to indicate where investments should not be made. Zoning laws also restricted Black people or families from living in preferred or white neighborhoods or better neighborhoods. These laws became ways of enforcing the principle of segregation in the housing market, hence creating a spatial separation between the black and white races.[Sood, Aradhya, and Kevin Ehrman-Solberg. "Long Shadow of Housing Discrimination: Evidence from Racial Covenants." Kevin, The Long Shadow of Housing Discrimination: Evidence from Racial Covenants (October 16, 2023) (2023).] [Ibid] These zoning laws were immense and manifold, with far-reaching implications. In the short term, they ensured that Black families could not get loans or homes in areas with better resources, schools, and other infrastructure. Slowly, these practices reinforced class differences and unequal competition in the Black economy. Second, these zoning laws affected those who did not own their houses. Still, their impact on society was broad, and in such a way, they laid the basis for segregated areas and keeping poverty in certain regions. In a nutshell, these laws restricted the amount of mortgage loan access available to Black people, effectively blocking whole groups of people from gaining mobility and economic advancement. The zoning laws and racial covenants that the FHA imposed in the end were administrative instruments of racial structure and became an avenue for the creation of segregation and perpetuation of inequality in housing. Interestingly, markers of these practices persist today in the modern forms of housing, and the disparity beneath us is a percussive salience of the contemporary American city's historically discriminatory practices.[Swanson, Stevie J. "The Metamorphoses of Racial Discrimination in American Real Estate." Minnesota Journal of Law & Inequality 42, no. 2 (2024): 183.] Real Estate Steering The thorny issue of real estate steering lightens the shadow of racial discrimination in the housing market. Using their control of the critical function of home purchase rights, real property representatives engaged in steering tactics that kept up segregation and restricted home possibilities for Black, mixed-race, and minority clients. Agents would deal with clients from these vulnerable groups and would thus direct them to the houses in poor areas while deliberately not showing them the luxury houses in the white areas. This was done intentionally to preserve and sustain some level of racial segregation. The oppression of the separate development of the residential regions was supported by real estate agents who directed people of color to white neighborhoods and thus further enforced the segregation of black people.[Ibid] The real estate steering had profound and adverse effects; it provided a backup to segregate the minorities in particular areas by influencing their choices of neighborhood and housing; it also handled the minorities and persons of color to be limited in their choices of residence by making them be housed in areas they would not want to live in; besides, it not only restricted the options in home buying or renting among minorities but it also contributed to economic and social segregation in the society through housing. That experience also made real estate agents active participants in the process of maintaining racially segregated neighborhoods, even in the context of systematic racism in the housing market. Discriminatory practices continue to have their impact on the American housing landscape; real estate steering still leaves a legacy of residential segregation and disparities in quality housing access.[Santucci, Larry. "The Racial Wealth Gap and The Legacy of Racially Restrictive Housing Covenants." Wharton Pension Research Council Working Paper 2023-17 (2023).] In addition to real estate steering, blacks still get overpriced through insidious practices of "Overpricing and Blockbusting," by real estate agents. Overpricing was too often the tool these agents used to set the price of properties in specific neighborhoods so far out of the market value so that they could get as much money from the Black buyers or to make them out of reach of the would-be black buyers. Instead, agents were misleading potential Black buyers and not telling them the actual value of homes so they could reap more enormous profits from those individuals and families. This symbolic form of economic exploitation overlaid upon the existing systemic inequalities of the housing market, was implicit. Real estate agents were gazing at Black buyers to overcharge them and hence make an unfair profit; Black Americans could not even find decent houses to live in at all, which made the situation worse and contributed to the continuation of the racial homeownership gap and the creation of wealth.[Moon, K. R. (2023). Rethinking race, housing, and community: A history of restrictive covenants and land use zoning in Alexandria, Virginia, 1900s-1960s.] Real estate agents also participated in redlining and blockbusting, where they informed white homeowners of the Black people moving into the neighborhood and then selling the property to bigots. Of course, this unethical practice contributed to race-related issues and further abuse of the housing market for profit. Both of these practices were a part of systematic racism in the real estate business, which was a continuous source of inequality in the economy, segregation, and real estate markets of housing. These exploitative practices had several appalling consequences; the housing segregation that exists today still has a problem with the racism that has been present in the past, leaving American Blacks with little chance of finding a home.[West, K., Allen, E. M., Neiwert, R., LaPlante, A., Durben, A. N., & Delgado-Palma, V. (2024). Lasting Legacy: The enduring relationship between racially restrictive housing covenants and health and wellbeing. Journal of Urban Health, 101(5), 1026-1036.] The Long-Term Impacts on African Americans and Developing Communities In extending the discussion on the lasting effects of discriminatory housing practices on African Americans and developing communities, it suffices to say that these inequities have had significant ramifications for wealth accumulation and economic prospects within Black neighborhoods. During periods of economic growth, black people have been deliberately excluded from the opportunity to build wealth through homeownership, which remains the most significant determinant of intergenerational mobility. Historically, ...