Black History Month - February 23, 2021

Let’s play a game called “Has my neighborhood been redlined?” You see six residential streetscapes. Three of them are in Melrose, and were not redlined by the federal Home Owners’ Loan Corporation in the 1930s, and three of them are in Malden south of Salem and east of Ferry, and were redlined. “Redlining” refers to the HOLC’s practice of placing certain neighborhoods inside of red lines and recommending that financial institutions not support loans for homebuyers within those bounds. No neighborhood in Melrose was redlined; some neighborhoods in Malden were.

If you are finding this game hard to play, it is because the HOLC’s definition of a redlined neighborhood had nothing to do with the quality of the construction and everything to do with the race and ethnicity of the people who lived there. The HOLC report for this part of Malden notes the “infiltration” of Jews, with “lower class Jews moving into the neighborhood at present.” It was also “2% Negro.” To avoid the fate of redlining, the message for bank loan officers, real estate agents, and white homeowners was clear: keep racial undesirables out. As a result of that philosophy, Melrose’s black population dwindled to 12 people by 1950.

In 1946, this redlined neighborhood of Malden elected the city’s first Black city councilor, Herbert L. Jackson; by 1950 he was serving as Malden’s state representative, as you can see by this proudly painted electrical box. We would love to show you Melrose’s first Black city councilor, but we are still waiting for them to be elected.

You can explore the Melrose and Malden redlining maps here: https://dsl.richmond.edu/panorama/redlining/#loc=14/42.458/-71.079&city=melrose-ma&area=B3