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Lesson 2

We will learn more about the discriminatory practices faced by potential Black home buyers from the 1930s through the 1960s in cities like Chicago. We will examine the practice of redlining, explore its implementation through real estate and lending practices promoted by the Federal Housing Administration, and learn about the immediate and lasting impact of those practices on the economic and educational opportunities for Black Americans.

Lesson Goals

  • Can I make connections among texts I have read and videos depicting the racist history of discriminatory housing in the United States?

Texts

Core

  • Digital Access
    • “How the U.S. Government Segregated Chicago,” Al Jazeera, YouTube, 2017
    • “Martin Luther King and Fair Housing in Chicago,” Daniel Hautzinger, WTTW Chicago, 2018
    • “Race the House We Live In,” California Newsreel, YouTube, 2003
  • Unit Reader
    • Excerpts from “The Long-Lasting Legacy of the Great Migration,” Isabel Wilkerson, Smithsonian Enterprises, 2016

Optional

  • Tradebook
    • Excerpts from Act 2 of A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry, Random House, 1959

Materials

Tools

Reference Guides

Question Sets

Editable Google Docs

Activity 1: Listen – Read – Discuss

We will experience a dramatic reading of Act 2, Scene 1 from a raisin in the sun and then discuss what this excerpt suggests about homeownership and “Dreams Deferred” for black Americans.

Pay attention while an excerpt from A Raisin in the Sun is presented.

As a class, discuss Act 2, Scene 1 from A Raisin in the Sun, guided by the following text-specific questions:

  1. Who are the characters in this scene, and how do they seem to function as a family?

  2. What is it that Mama has done that sets off the discussion in this scene? How does she explain why she has taken this step?

  3. What are the various reactions of the other members of the family to Mama’s decision? Why might they react as they do?

  4. When Mama reveals that the house is in Clybourne Park, what do her explanation and others’ reactions suggest might be a complication to fulfilling her dream of homeownership?

  5. How does this scene from the play relate to what we have been studying about the American dream of homeownership?

Activity 2: Listen – Read – Discuss – Write

We will experience a dramatic reading of Act 2, Scene 3 from a raisin in the sun and continue discussing what this excerpt suggests about homeownership and “Dreams Deferred” for black Americans.

Step 1

Pay attention while an excerpt from the play is presented. Consider the following questions:

  1. Who is Mr. Lindner, and what has he come to propose to Mama and her family?

  2. How do members of the family react to his proposal?

  3. When Mama returns, what do they tell her about "The Welcoming Committee"?

  4. Despite what they have just experienced, how does the family honor Mama and celebrate her decision?

  5. How does this scene from the play relate to what you have been studying about the American dream of homeownership?

As a class, discuss the scene as guided by the text-specific questions above.

Step 2

Individually, form a claim about the play and its depiction of the dream of homeownership for a poor black family in the 1950s. Write down your claim in your Learning Log and share it with other students in the class.

Activity 3: View – Discuss

We will watch a video about racial discrimination in the post–World War II suburban housing boom to better understand the other side of the suburban exodus.

Watch the video "Race the House We Live In" on YouTube, considering the following guiding questions:

  1. How was the fulfillment of the dream of homeownership in post-war America different for White and Black Americans?

  2. How was racial segregation and discrimination institutionalized by the Federal Housing Administration?

  3. How did practices such as redlining reduce the long-term opportunity to build wealth for Black Americans?

With a discussion partner, share your reactions to the video and what you have learned by thinking about the three guiding questions.

As a class, discuss the video and the three guiding questions. As you express your feelings about what the video presents, connect your observations to specific details from the video.

Activity 4: View – Discuss – Write

We will watch a second video about discriminatory housing practices in chicago and compare what we learn to what we have discovered in other videos and texts.

Watch the video "How the U.S. Government Segregated Chicago," considering how the story it tells about segregated housing in Chicago connects to other texts we have examined.

Working with a partner, use a copy of the Extending Understanding Tool to make connections between this video, the previous video, the excerpts from Wilkerson’s "The Long-Lasting Legacy of the Great Migration," A Raisin in the Sun, and other material from the unit.

Develop a new claim in response to the following text-specific question:

  1. In what ways do the scars of a segregated city run deep?

Develop a new text-specific question that frames an issue that you want to learn more about as you move forward in the unit.

Share your claim and question with the class.

Activity 5: Discuss – Write

We will consider what we have learned about the practice and history of redlining and add a definition and summary of the practice to our Vocabulary Journals.

Step 1

With a partner, summarize what you currently understand about redlining by responding to the following questions:

  1. What was redlining and why was it referred to by this term?

  2. What were the justifications used by the FHA and realtors to implement this discriminatory practice?

  3. What were the immediate impacts of redlining on Black Americans?

  4. What are some long-term social and economic consequences of redlining?

Step 2

Following your conversation, write an extended definition of redlining in your Vocabulary Journal, in which you explain the practice, its justifications, and its immediate and long-term consequences.

Activity 6: Read – Write

For homework, we will use guiding questions to read and analyze a 2018 chicago article from wttw chicago commemorating the 50-year anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s role with the chicago freedom movement, which led to the passage of the fair housing act of 1968.

For homework, read the 2018 WTTW Chicago article "Martin Luther King and Fair Housing in Chicago," which commemorates the 50-year anniversary of the 1968 passage of the Fair Housing Act. Use the text-specific questions below to identify key details about Martin Luther King’s involvement with the Chicago Freedom Movement:

  1. What details about discriminatory housing practices presented in Paragraph 3 reinforce what you have already learned from other texts and videos?

  2. What did Dr. King and his wife Coretta do to bring attention to housing issues in Chicago and across the country?

  3. What actions did King and the Chicago Freedom Movement take to bring attention to housing issues? How did people in Chicago respond?

  4. Which of the two provisions of the Fair Housing Act has not ever really been enforced?

  5. What is the recent partisan history of attempts to address segregation in American housing?

Write down your answers in your Learning Log in preparation for a class discussion.

Write new or interesting words you encounter in your Vocabulary Journal.