❗Let's close the gap: We still need your help to raise $40,000 by April 1. Donate now
Shelf Life

Why segregation lingers in Chicago and the rest of America

Kai Ryssdal Apr 14, 2016
HTML EMBED:
COPY
Tim Boyle (Getty Images)
Shelf Life

Why segregation lingers in Chicago and the rest of America

Kai Ryssdal Apr 14, 2016
Tim Boyle (Getty Images)
HTML EMBED:
COPY

Segregation is a loaded word. It brings to mind different times, times that in the law have been done away with but which in reality still linger — especially in some of our biggest cities. 

One such city, Chicago,  is the subject of Natalie Moore’s new book “The South Side: A Portrait of Chicago and American Segregation.”

Moore spoke with Marketplace host Kai Ryssdal.

On how housing is the manifestation of segregation in Chicago:

I would say it’s the root of segregation in a lot of American cities. Chicago is a proxy for things that are going on around the country. And so what happened in Chicago [is] the roots of it go back to the Great Migration… So we had 500,000 [African Americans] come to Chicago between 1916 and 1970. And just about as soon as they got here, local officials, national officials, banks [and] governments conspired to keep black people living only in confined spaces… And what does that look like today? What I’m talking about is the past, but we still have banks giving bad loans to places like Chatham where you have working middle class people who can afford homes.

Click the audio player above to listen to the full interview. 

There’s a lot happening in the world.  Through it all, Marketplace is here for you. 

You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible. 

Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.