Mapping Inequality: Redlining in New Deal America

"Mapping Inequality is a digital humanities project that allows users to explore the history of redlining in the United States through an aggregation of records from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). It uses the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation’s records, dating between 1935 and 1940, to create an interactive map that reveals the ways city neighborhoods were rated according to their perceived desirability and risk levels for granting home loans. The site allows users to explore this information in different forms including the original digitized records, full transcriptions of the records, and excerpts that highlight significant details selected from the records by the project designers. The goal of Mapping Inequality is to call attention to the ways in which the practice of redlining contributed to the ongoing reality of racial inequality in the United States. Transcription is ongoing, and more information will be available on the site over time."

- Carli V. Lowe, San José State University