Housing in Chicago’s Black Belt

Linked to Great Migration

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Black southerners left rural, agricultural areas like Georgia’s Black Belt for cities such as Detroit, New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. Migrants found their new settings to be an improvement but also full of obstacles. White flight and discriminatory housing policies funneled African Americans into poorer neighborhoods and public housing complexes.

Courtesy of Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Black-and-White Negatives.

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