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Four classroom units on the federal, municipal, and private decisions that segregated American neighborhoods between 1933 and now. Built for U.S. history, civics, and AP Human Geography. Free for any educator. Email and we will send what we have.
Every unit points at real public primary sources you can click and read in class today. The readings are the curriculum. We provide the framing questions, discussion prompts, and links to the Rooted Forward dataset each unit pairs with.
4
Units
Free
CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
9–12
Grade Range
Public
Sources Only
Run them in order, or pull a single unit into the course you already teach. Every reading below is on a public site you can link from a slide.
01
Unit 01
Who decided which neighborhoods would receive bank loans, and what did those decisions look like on a map?
Readings
Discussion prompt
Pull up the Mapping Inequality viewer for your city. Find a tract graded D in 1938. What does it look like in 2025 on Census tract data? What does the same tract look like graded A?
Pairs with
1938 HOLC Chicago map dataset →02
Unit 02
What happened to Black families who could not get federally insured mortgages, and how much did that cost them across a generation?
Readings
Discussion prompt
A 1968 contract-buying agreement on a $12,000 house carried a $25,000 contract price. Calculate the markup as a percent. Then calculate how that markup compounds across thirty years. Compare to the equivalent FHA-insured loan available to a white buyer the same year.
03
Unit 03
Why did Chicago demolish 17,000 public-housing units in two decades, and what does the right of return mean in practice?
Readings
Discussion prompt
The 1999 plan promised 25,000 replacement units. Twenty-five years later CHA reports 25,000. Read the ProPublica reporting and identify which categories of housing were counted that the original plan did not contemplate. Should those units count? Defend a position.
04
Unit 04
What does TIF actually do, who decides who benefits, and how would you change it?
Readings
Discussion prompt
Pick one TIF district from the Cook County Clerk reports. Read its three most recent annual reports. List every project that received funds. Decide whether each project clears the but-for test the law requires. Write a 500-word memo to the alderperson recommending changes.
Pairs with
Bronzeville TIF expenditure dataset →How it fits together
Each unit pairs with a stop on a walking tour. Field-trip versions of every tour are mapped and printable.
Episodes are 25 to 40 minutes. Use one as homework before a unit; we include a five-question listening guide.
Every unit links to a real dataset on this site. Students sort, filter, and export the same data the papers use.
Use it in your classroom
Send a note about your subject, grade, and how many class periods you have for this. We will email back the framing questions, the readings list, and any slide drafts we have for the units that fit.
We reply within a week. If you want a 20-minute call to walk through it, ask.