How Homeownership Shaped Race In America, with Adrienne Brown
Race has played a huge role in the creation of mass homeownership in the United States. Discriminatory housing practices including redlining, exclusionary zoning and whitewashing led to great disparities in home ownership among White and Black homeowners. Despite the passage of the Fair Housing Act in 1968, the damage had been done to communities of color and the rates of Black homeownership.
Mass homeownership actually changed the definition, perception and value of race, according to a new book called The Residential is Racial: A Perceptual History of Mass Homeownership. In it, University of Chicago scholar Adrienne Brown documents the unexplored history of mass homeownership and how it still plays out today. An associate professor in the Department of English and the Department of Race, Diaspora, and Indigeneity, Brown is also the author of The Black Skyscraper: Architecture and the Perception of Race.
00:00 Introduction: The Intersection of Racism and Housing
00:09 Historical Context: The Legacy of Housing Discrimination
00:42 Adrienne Brown's New Perspective
01:14 The Role of Homeownership in Defining Whiteness
01:30 Cultural Artifacts and Perception
02:15 Start of Discussion
03:16 Adrienne Brown's Background and Motivation
04:55 The Birth of Mass Homeownership
05:14 Herbert Hoover's Influence on Home Ownership
09:22 The National Association of Realtors' Role
19:41 The Fair Housing Act of 1968
23:01 Current Challenges and Future Outlook
26:48 Conclusion and Final Thoughts
