Race-based federal lending rules from New Deal programs in the 1930s kept Black families locked out of suburban neighborhoods, a policy that continues to slow their economic mobility.

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Whites-Only Suburbs: How the New Deal Shut Out Black Homebuyers

Producer/Narrator : Erik German
Associate Producer: Irem Ozturan

The New Deal programs launched between 1932 and the end of World War II transformed society. But when it came to support for home ownership, Black Americans reaped far fewer benefits than white Americans. Federal Housing Administration rules from that era recommended that the way to preserve the value of newly constructed subdivisions was to keep Black homebuyers from living there, a policy that continues to slow Black families’ ability to build wealth.

This video is released in partnership with TIME magazine.

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