Real Estate and Race in Richmond, from 1937 to the Present

The University of Richmond’s Digital Scholarship Lab has an interesting feature called “Redlining Richmond,” about aspects of racial and economic discrimination that have shaped our city.  Here is an excerpt from 1937 that highlights the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) perspective that “clearly convey the centrality of race in the politics and on the landscape of the Southern city” and illuminates real estate and property value assessment regarding the Byrd Park and Randolph neighborhoods:

Race was such a determining factor in these assessments that proximity to African American areas could and did decrease a neighborhoods grade. Area C4 (today known as the Byrd Park neighborhood), for instance, was reduced from a B to a C grade because of its proximity to African American neighborhood of Randolph (D8). “This area is yellow,” the assessor explained, “largely because the school for white children is in the negro area, D-8, and because the negroes of D-8 pass back and forth for access to the William Byrd Park which lies to the west. For this reason losses on properties are being taken.”

This excerpt is bound to provoke a reaction from any reader.  How much has changed?  How much has stayed the same? In many ways,Richmond will always be defined by race and segregation, even as we take intentional action to overcome this history.  This website can serve as a forum for the community to talk through these issues in the interest of progress and understanding.  Please be respectful in your comments.