‘Undesign the Redline’ exhibits highlight Black History Month at Wright State University

“Undesign the Redline” is on display on the second floor of Dunbar Library. The program also includes faculty lectures, screening of a documentary film on the Bolinga Black Cultural Resources Center, a tour of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority and Black history quizzes.

Exhibits designed to deepen understanding of the impact of redlining, the historic discriminatory practice of denying creditworthy applicants housing loans in neighborhoods often populated by minority residents, is on display at Wright State University.

It’s all part of Black History Month that will also feature faculty lectures on how redlining relates to history, the law, segregation, Black feminist activism and Black women’s health equity.

In addition, there will be a presentation of a documentary film on the Bolinga Black Cultural Resources Center, a community tour of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority and even Black history quizzes.

“Undesign the Redline,” which is on display on the second floor of Dunbar Library, features high-touch interactive physical spaces that create tangible educational opportunities. Interactive components at each station enable visitors to better understand the content and contribute knowledge.

Exhibits include an introduction to redlining, explaining how explicit Jim Crow-era racism was designed into structural racism from the New Deal era until today; localized redlining maps for 239 different U.S. cities and populated areas; a timeline of policies, practices and investments as well as responses to their effects from 1800 to today; stories that humanize redlining; and an exploration of alternative models and processes to redlining.

“Redlining” maps, which were introduced in the 1930s, featured red lines drawn around neighborhoods to signify “risk areas” for federal backing of newly invented homeownership programs.

Those areas were referred to as “infiltrated by hazardous populations,” were based almost entirely on race and helped prevent money from being loaned toward home purchases, allowing structural racism and segregation to be designed into cities and causing lingering effects today on wealth, income, well-being and ownership.

More information on “Undesign the Redline” is available at wright.edu/redline.

“Undesign the Redline” Events:

Wednesday, Feb. 2, to Tuesday, Feb. 15

Black History Month Quiz (enter code 0386 9017)

Friday, Feb. 4
Noon to 1 p.m.
Join on Webex (Password: Undesign)

Virtual faculty lecture titled “The Color of Law” with John Feldmeier, Ph.D., professor of political science; Jennifer Subban, Ph.D., professor of urban affairs; and Sarah Twill, Ph.D., professor of social work. Moderated by Feldmeier and Twill.

Wednesday, Feb. 9
10 a.m.
Join on Webex

Bolinga Black Cultural Resources Center documentary discussion.

Friday, Feb. 11
Noon–1 p.m.
Join on Webex (Password: Undesign)

Virtual faculty lecture titled “Colonial Redlining: Cantonments, Labor Migration and Native Reserves” with Geoffrey R. Owens, Ph.D., professor of sociocultural anthropology. Moderated by Dan Warshawsky, Ph.D., associate professor of geography, and Lance Greene, Ph.D. associate professor of anthropology.

Tuesday, Feb. 15
1–3 p.m.

Community tour of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.

Wednesday, Feb. 16
1–2 p.m.
Join on Webex (Password: Undesign)

Virtual live lecture titled “Redlining and Segregation” with John R. Logan, Ph.D., professor of sociology at Brown University. Moderated by Geoffrey Owens, Ph.D., professor of sociocultural anthropology, and Marlese Durr, Ph.D., professor of sociology.

Wednesday, Feb. 16, to Monday, Feb. 28

Black History Month Quiz (Enter code 2929 6985)

Friday, Feb. 18
10 a.m.
Join on Webex

Bolinga Black Cultural Resources Center documentary discussion.

Friday, Feb. 18
Noon–1 p.m.
Join on Webex (Password: Undesign)

Virtual faculty lecture titled “Redlining and Black Feminist Activism” with Angela Simms, Ph.D., assistant professor of sociology and urban studies at Barnard College. Moderated by Marlese Durr, Ph.D., professor of sociology, and Nicole Carter, Ph.D., director of the Women’s Center.

Monday, Feb. 23
1–2 p.m.
Join on Webex (Password: Undesign)

Virtual faculty lecture titled “Redlining and the LGBTQ Communities,” Townsand Price-Spratlen, Ph.D., associate professor, Department of Sociology, The Ohio State University. Moderated by Marlese Durr, Ph.D., professor of sociology, and Jessica Barnett, Ph.D., associate professor of sexuality and gender studies.

Tuesday, Feb. 25
Noon–1 p.m.
Join on Webex (Password: Undesign)

Virtual faculty lecture titled “Redlining and Black Women’s Health Equity” with Nicole Carter, Ph.D., director of the Women’s Center, and Camille Edwards, public health workforce and community engagement director in the Boonshoft School of Medicine. Moderated by Carter.