Housing segregation throughout the United States has never been accidental. Decades of racism on a national, state, and local level have kept people of color from home ownership and economic opportunity – resulting in generations of long-term segregation and generations of lost wealth.
The history of housing discrimination is very complex and multi-faceted. This exhibit examines just two specific aspects of housing discrimination that took place throughout the nation and in San Leandro: Redlining and the development of all-white suburban neighborhoods. The goal of this exhibit is not to shame the community, but to help us to better understand the systemic racism that kept San Leandro a mostly-white community well into the 1990s.