University of Richmond
IN-27: Innovation D

Mapping Inequality updates the study of New Deal America, the federal government, housing, and inequality for the twenty-first century. It offers unprecedented online access to the national collection of "security maps" and area descriptions produced between 1935 and 1940 by one of the New Deal's most important agencies, the Home Owners' Loan Corporation or HOLC (pronounced "holk"). The project spotlights the legal, social, and financial structures that led to banks avoiding investments based on the demographics of a neighborhood. Known as redlining, the practice led to the rejection or refusal of loans or insurance for applicants based on their racial or ethnic background. The practice greatly influenced the racial and financial inequality in American cities. Mapping Inequality introduces viewer to the records of the Home Owners' Loan Corporation on a scale that is unprecedented. Combining history, geography, demography, digital scholarship, and urban planning, the project allows users to browse more than 150 interactive maps and thousands of "area descriptions." These materials afford an extraordinary view of the contours of wealth and racial inequality in Depression-era American cities and insights into discriminatory policies and practices that so profoundly shaped cities that we feel their legacy to this day. Mapping Inequality is a partnership between the University of Richmond’s Digital Scholarship Lab, the Digital Curation Innovation Center (DCIC) at University of Maryland, and a team from Virginia Tech.

https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/10/housing-discrimination-redlining-maps/