Kansas City legacies: pushing beyond redlining

Abstract

This thesis looks at redlining and blatant discrimination within Kansas City. Racial bias remains a fact of American life, and the Federal Housing Administration ultimately failed Black Americans.1 Established covenants required home-sale contracts that prohibited future sales to nonwhites, which only set a precedent for persistent racial segregation patterns that still divide American cities. Many established post-World War II suburbs still play a significant role in maintaining the color line in urban housing. Historically underrepresented groups continuously find themselves plagued by overwhelming obstacles to find, finance, and purchase homes. This project compiles oral histories of individuals who provide their experiences of redlining and discrimination in Kansas City, Missouri. The seven chosen interviewees come from various backgrounds who are active in politics, activism, and community networking. The project also draws upon secondary sources on residential segregation and racial discrimination. Instead of using the distinctive and familiar “Troost Wall” case study, these new oral histories from Kansas City’s underrepresented areas broaden an understanding of the consequences of redlining in the city.