Dark travel: exhuming the racialised transit gaps beneath twentieth-century travel maps

Jim Crow segregated African Americans and whites by law and practice. The causes and implications of the associated de jure and de facto residential segregation have received substantial attention from scholars, but there has been little empirical research on racial discrimination in public accommodations during this time period. We digitize the Negro Motorist Green Books, important historical travel guides aimed at helping African Americans navigate segregation in the pre-Civil Rights Act United States. We create a novel panel dataset that contains precise geocoded locations of over 4,000 unique businesses that provided non-discriminatory service to African American patrons between 1938 and 1966. Our analysis reveals several new facts about discrimination in public accommodations that contribute to the broader literature on racial segregation. First, the largest number of Green Book establishments were found in the Northeast, while the lowest number were found in the West. The Midwest had the highest number of Green Book establishments per black resident and the South had the lowest. Second, we combine our Green Book estimates with newly digitized county-level estimates of hotels to generate the share of non-discriminatory formal accommodations. Again, the Northeast had the highest share of non-discriminatory accommodations, with the South following closely behind. Third, for Green Book establishments located in cities for which the Home Owner’s Loan Corporation (HOLC) drew residential security maps, the vast majority (nearly 70 percent) are located in the lowest-grade, redlined neighborhoods. Finally, Green Book presence tends to correlate positively with measures of material well-being and economic activity.

Digital Redlining and Cardiovascular Innovation.

This study investigated direct and indirect relationships between historic structural racism and a novel measure of contemporary structural racism on prevalence of diabetes, accounting for distribution of race across counties in the US. Structural equation modeling in Stata v17 and an analytic sample of 15,190 census tracts across 157 counties, within 50 states including DC were used. Historic structural racism was defined as Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) redlining neighborhood grades. Contemporary structural racism was defined as the structural racism effect index (SREI), a summary score of nine social determinant domains. Mean diabetes prevalence was 11.8%. Historic redlining, SREI, and Black race were directly associated with increased diabetes prevalence. Historic redlining was indirectly associated with increased diabetes prevalence via SREI. Black race was indirectly associated with increased diabetes prevalence through more exposure to historic redlining and higher levels of contemporary structural racism. Both historic and contemporary measures of structural racism are associated with increased diabetes prevalence. Contemporary structural racism is a stronger relationship for the pathway through which Black race is associated with diabetes prevalence and is a pathway through which historic residential redlining influences diabetes prevalence. Disclosure L.E. Egede: None. R.J. Walker: None. S. Linde: None. Funding National Institutes of Health (R01DK118038, R01DK120861, R01MD013826, R01MD017574, R01MD018012)

This article analyzes the impact of the residential security maps created by the Home Owners' Loan Corporation (HOLC) during the 1930s on residential mortgages in Philadelphia. Researchers have consistently argued that HOLC caused redlining and disinvestment in U.S. cities by sharing its color-coded maps. Geographic information systems and spatial statistical models were used to analyze address-level mortgage data from Philadelphia to determine if areas with worse grades actually had less access to residential mortgage credit as a result. Findings indicate that the grades on HOLC's map do not explain differences in lending patterns with the exception of interest rates, which were higher in areas colored red. Archival material and journal articles from the 1930s also reveal that lenders were avoiding areas colored red before HOLC made its maps, that HOLC's maps were not widely distributed, and that lenders had other sources of information about real estate risk levels.

Background: A growing body of evidence highlights the role of structural racism, or the ways in which societies foster racial discrimination through mutually reinforcing systems, on cardiovascular outcomes. This study aimed to better understand this relationship using historic structural racism (historic redlining) and a novel measure of contemporary structural racism (structural racism effect index) on life expectancy, accounting for distribution of race across counties in the US. Methods: After combining census tract level data, the final analytic sample consisted of 15,190 census tracts across 157 counties, within 50 states including DC. Historic structural racism was defined as historic redlining using the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) neighborhood grades (score between 1=best and 4=redlined). Contemporary structural racism was defined using the structural racism effect index (SREI), a summary score of nine domains (built environment, criminal justice, education, employment, housing, income/poverty, social cohesion, transportation, and wealth). Life expectancy was based on the National Center for Health Statistics’ US Small-area Life Expectancy Estimates Project using 2010-2015 data. Structural equation modeling in Stata v17 was used to investigate direct and indirect relationships between race, historic structural racism, contemporary structural racism, and life expectancy in the US. Results: Mean life expectancy was 77.3 years and 26.7% of the US population within each census tract was Black/African American. Historic redlining (-0.06, p<0.001), contemporary structural racism (-0.61, p<0.001), and proportion of the census tract reporting Black race (-0.21, p<0.001) were directly associated with decreased life expectancy. Historic redlining was indirectly associated with decreased life expectancy via the pathway of contemporary structural racism (0.19, p<0.001). Black race was indirectly associated with decreased life expectancy through both more exposure to historic redlining (0.18, p<0.001) and higher levels of contemporary structural racism (0.56, p<0.001). Conclusion: Structural racism, measured using historic or contemporary measures, is associated with decreased life expectancy. Contemporary structural racism is a stronger relationship for the pathway through which Black race is associated with lower life expectancy and is a pathway through which historic residential redlining influences life expectancy.

The long-run effect of historical redlining practices on social vulnerability in U.S. cities

Scholarship on the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) has typically focused on this New Deal housing agency’s invention of redlining, with dire effects from this legacy of racial, ethnic, and class bias for the trajectories of urban, and especially African American neighborhoods. However, HOLC did not embark on its now infamous mapping project until after it had issued all its emergency refinancing loans to the nation’s struggling homeowners. We examine the racial logic of HOLC’s local operations and its lending record to black applicants during the agency’s initial 1933-1935 “rescue” phase, finding black access to its loans to have been far more extensive than anyone has assumed. Yet, even though HOLC did loan to African Americans, it did so in ways that reinforced racial segregation—and with the objective of replenishing the working capital of the overwhelmingly white-owned building and loans that held the mortgages on most black-owned homes.

Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among US women across all racial/ethnic groups. Stage at diagnosis is one of the major factors determining breast cancer prognosis. The 5-year relative survival for breast cancer ranges from 99% for localized stage at diagnosis, to 84% for regional stage, and to 27% for distant (metastatic) stage breast cancer. The proportion of women diagnosed with breast cancer at later stages (regional and distant) in the US are higher among women with lower socio-economic status and among non-Hispanic Black women. Historic mortgage security redlining, implemented by the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) in the 1930s across numerous US cities, continues to have a negative influence on breast cancer stage at diagnosis, largely due to continued social and economic isolation and poor living environments resulting in many adverse consequences, including lower education, limited job opportunities, no/limited health insurance coverage, and suboptimal access to care, including cancer screening services. Additionally, studies have reported that living in areas with greater contemporary mortgage lending bias towards the non-Hispanic Black population (measured as higher odds of mortgage denial) is associated with late-stage breast cancer diagnosis in several US metropolitan areas. In this study, we aim to examine the association between the historic HOLC-based “redlining” and contemporary mortgage lending bias and stage of breast cancer at diagnosis among women aged 18 years and older in New Jersey diagnosed with first primary invasive breast cancer in 2010-2015 (N= 32,939). The study population was derived from the New Jersey State Cancer Registry. Historic “redlining” data based on 1930s neighborhood boundaries and transformed to corresponding 2010 census tracts borders were obtained from Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research. Mortgage lending bias score for the study period was calculated at the census tract level following methodology developed by Beyers and colleagues. Associations between census tract-level historic “redlining”, contemporary mortgage lending bias and breast cancer stage at diagnosis were evaluated using multinomial logistic regression models after adjusting for age alone, and then for age, race/ethnicity, marital status, and health insurance status. The study included 21,038 local, 9,765 regional, and 2,136 distant stage breast cancer cases. After adjusting for age, race/ethnicity, marital status, and health insurance, women living in historically redlined census tracts were more likely to be diagnosed with regional (OR=1.23; 95% CI 1.03-1.48) and distant (OR=1.55; 95% CI 1.09-2.22) stage breast cancer compared to women living in other census tracts. Odds for regional (OR=1.14; 95% CI 1.06-1.23) and distant (OR=1.33; 95% CI 1.16-1.53) stage breast cancer were also significantly higher for women living in areas with highest mortgage lending bias score. Stratifying by age (< 65 and >=65 years) showed similar patterns (data not shown). Both historic “redlining” and contemporary mortgage lending bias were associated with being diagnosed with breast cancer at later stages, notably distant stage. Targeting the legacy of systematic racism and addressing any contemporary discriminatory policies may help reduce breast cancer disparities in the diagnosis stage and thus mortality. Association between the historic redlining and contemporary mortgage lending bias and stage of breast cancer at diagnosis among women aged ≥18 years in New Jersey, 2010-2015 Note: For contemporary mortgage lending bias, highest score is indicative of highest bias (highest proportion of mortgage denial) towards Black people. *Fully adjusted model includes covariates: age, race/ethnicity, marital status, health insurance status ^Areas designated ”Best” were individual housing markets with sufficient levels of financing and were preserved exclusively for White and wealthy population. Areas defined as “Hazardous” were those lacking financial resources and were designated for Black and poor population. Citation Format: Daniel Wiese, Antoinette M. Stroup, Ahmedin Jemal, Kevin A. Henry, Farhad Islami. Associations of historic and contemporary “redlining” with breast cancer stage at diagnosis [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2022 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2022 Dec 6-10; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(5 Suppl):Abstract nr P1-06-01.

Recent years have seen an explosion of public health research on associations between historical redlining maps created by a US government agency, the Home Owners' Loan Corporation (HOLC), and present-day outcomes. Yet precisely how and why HOLC's surveys help us understand the underpinnings of present-day racial inequities remains unclear. We apply an interdisciplinary perspective to assess the contributions and limitations of this literature, particularly with regard to causal mechanisms and theoretical explanations. While research often frames HOLC redlining as a measure of structural racism that directly shapes present-day outcomes, we look instead to racial capitalism to understand how and why racialized housing policies are implemented. We argue that the HOLC maps represent symptoms, not causes, of systematic disinvestment in Black communities, that redlining was not produced by the federal government in isolation but was shaped by public‒private collaboration and infused with capitalist logics, and that redlining interacted with many other forms of racialized housing dispossession to shape present-day riskscapes. We conclude by offering conceptual and methodological recommendations for public health researchers, including suggestions for data sources other than HOLC maps. (Am J Public Health. 2025;115(5):769-779. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2024.308000).

BackgroundIn the 1930s, the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation categorized neighborhoods by investment grade along racially discriminatory lines, a process known as redlining. Although other authors have found associations between Home Owners’ Loan Corporation categories and current impacts on racial segregation, analysis of current health impacts rarely use these maps.ObjectiveTo study whether historical redlining in Baltimore is associated with health impacts today.ApproachFifty-four present-day planning board-defined community statistical areas are assigned historical Home Owners’ Loan Corporation categories by area predominance. Categories are red (“hazardous”), yellow (”definitely declining”) with blue/green (“still desirable”/”best”) as the reference category. Community statistical area life expectancy is regressed against Home Owners’ Loan Corporation category, controlling for median household income and proportion of African American residents.ConclusionRed categorization is associated with 4.01 year reduction (95% CI: 1.47, 6.55) and yellow categorization is associated with 5.36 year reduction (95% CI: 3.02, 7.69) in community statistical area life expectancy at baseline. When controlling for median household income and proportion of African American residents, red is associated with 5.23 year reduction (95% CI: 3.49, 6.98) and yellow with 4.93 year reduction (95% CI: 3.22, 6.23). Results add support that historical redlining is associated with health today.

The Green Book, a Jim Crow era travel guide created by African-Americans for African-Americans, has received much recent popular and academic scrutiny. Consisting of almost 30 editions published between 1936 and 1966, the Green Book features thousands of addresses for businesses that catered to African-Americans during a period of institutionalized discrimination and segregation. Use of the guide allowed for safe travel by black travelers through hostile areas of the United States as it provided escape from harassment and potential violence instigated by unwelcoming shopkeepers and patrons. As a tool of resistance developed to spatially subvert white supremacy, the many editions of the Green Book provide a kind of road map that can reveal black geographies previously forgotten by hegemonic knowledge structures. However, despite this recognized social and historical importance, few studies have investigated the spatial data contained within the pages of the guidebook, or more broadly, the spaces of black geographies. This chapter seeks to fill this gap by understanding how the text of the Green Book can be read through the epistemologies of black geographies and critical geographic information science (GIS). Simultaneously, it provides insights into the geography of African-American travel patterns during an era of state-sponsored discrimination. This study embraces technological advances since the time of the Green Book’s publication to visually map spatial data published during the Jim Crow era to demonstrate how the study of black geographies may benefit from the use of critical GIS and texts such as the Green Book. Using a case study of New Orleans, Louisiana (USA), the author shows how the Green Book can be read to reveal how shifts in American racial politics, from overt segregation in the 1930s to racial liberalization in the 1960s, led to shifts in the spaces associated with African-American travel. By comparing the spatial data of the Green Book to historical census data, trends in urban neighborhood composition can explain how and why African-American travel patterns shifted within the case city. Furthermore, such mapping reveals the complex networks of spaces developed by black Americans to live within a segregationist society while actively resisting discrimination through the construction of counter-public spaces. Finally, this chapter demonstrates how historical texts, including guidebooks, can be used to provide insights into the historical geography of a largely understudied population, African-American travelers.

Purpose: Racism is an essential factor to understand racial health disparities in infection and mortality due to COVID-19 and must be thoroughly integrated into any successful public health response. But highlighting the effect of racism generally does not go far enough toward understanding racial/ethnic health disparities or advocating for change; we must interrogate the various forms of racism in the United States, including behaviors and practices that are not recognized by many as racism.Methods: In this article, we explore the prevalence and demographic distribution of various forms of racism in the United States and how these diverse racial ideologies are potentially associated with racialized responses to the COVID-19 crisis.Results: We find that among white Americans, more than a quarter express traditional racist attitudes, whereas more than half endorse more contemporary and implicit forms of racist ideology. Each of these types of racism helps us explain profound disparities related to COVID-19.Conclusions: Despite a robust literature documenting persistent patterns of racial disparities in the United States, a focus on the role that various forms of racism play in perpetuating these disparities is absent. These distinctions are essential to realizing health equity and countering disparities in COVID-19 and other health outcomes among people of color in the United States.

Reviewed by: Going Places: Victor Hugo Green and His Glorious Book by Tonya Bolden Kara Forde Bolden, Tonya Going Places: Victor Hugo Green and His Glorious Book; illus. by Eric Velasquez Quill Tree, 2022 [40p] Trade ed. ISBN 9780062967404 $17.99 Reviewed from digital galleys R* Gr. 4-8 As a mail carrier in New Jersey in the early twentieth century, Victor Hugo Green was known for his “great get-up-and-go,” and he used his resourcefulness to carefully compile information about safe and friendly accommodations for Black folks traveling in the United States during Jim Crow segregation. The result was the Green Book, which started as a small pamphlet in 1936 that focused on the New York City area but quickly grew to detail welcoming establishments in the biggest cities of every state until its last publication in 1966. With lively language that hovers between poetry and prose, Bolden’s biographical account carefully introduces the intersections of historical preconditions that led to the creation of Green Book: the pervasive harassment and danger Black people experienced during Jim Crow; the growing Harlem Renaissance; the shifts in modes of transportation during the Great Depression; and Green’s disposition and resilience. Velasquez’s smooth oil paint illustrations radiantly depict everyday Black folks on the go, often paired with highly detailed portraits of car models of the era, while collaged snippets of relevant media, such as postcards and newspaper headlines, contextualize the flow of information around the Green Book’s creation and use. Primary source evidence of how dearly Victor Hugo Green longed to see the day his prized creation would no longer be necessary poignantly connects Green’s life to the broader history of civil rights movement. Backmatter includes a timeline, additional information about Green, citation notes, and suggested further resources for young readers. Copyright © 2022 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

The legacy of the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation and the political ecology of urban trees and air pollution in the United States

Problems with mortgage financing are widely considered to be a major cause of the recent financial meltdown. Several modern programs have been designed to mimic the Home Owners' Loan Corporation (HOLC) of the 1930s. We analyze the impact of the HOLC on the nonfarm rental and owned home markets for over 2,800 counties in the United States in the 1930s. In sparsely populated counties, where financial markets were not as well developed as in larger cities, the HOLC stimulated demand for owned housing more than it influenced supply. In rental markets the HOLC appears to have contributed to an increase in supply. The Author 2011. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Society for Financial Studies. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com., Oxford University Press.