Why have segregation and housing discrimination lasted so long?

  • In the 20th century, individual prejudice, private industry, and government laws built invisible walls to maintain segregated housing in Durham.
  • These walls were constructed with many tools: deed restrictions, suburban development, zoning laws, steering, real estate marketing, red-lining, and public housing. Together they created racial gaps in home ownership, wealth, security and mobility that persist today.

This map shows where people of different races and ethnicities lived in Durham County in 2010. Where do you see “invisible walls”?

“The housing industry, aided and abetted by Government, must bear the primary responsibility for the legacy of segregated housing… Government and private industry came together to create a system of residential segregation.”

– U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, 1973

Why have segregation and housing discrimination lasted so long?

  • In the 20th century, individual prejudice, private industry, and government laws built invisible walls to maintain segregated housing in Durham.
  • These walls were constructed with many tools: deed restrictions, suburban development, zoning laws, steering, real estate marketing, red-lining, and public housing. Together they created racial gaps in home ownership, wealth, security and mobility that persist today.

This map shows where people of different races and ethnicities lived in Durham County in 2010. Where do you see “invisible walls”?

“The housing industry, aided and abetted by Government, must bear the primary responsibility for the legacy of segregated housing… Government and private industry came together to create a system of residential segregation.”

– U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, 1973