Redlining & housing discrimination
Redlining Chicago's South Side
Security map drawn 1940; contract selling continued into the 1970sThe Black Belt, South Side Chicago, IL
The Black Belt was graded red across the board, so the families confined to it could not get a normal mortgage. They bought on contract instead, at terms designed to take the house back.
The shape on the map is a reconstruction drawn from historical descriptions, not a surveyed boundary. Follow the sources for authoritative maps.