Teaching redlining in schools

When you were in school, did you learn about redlining? Did you learn about our American history of housing discrimination, and how deeply it hurt people and families of color? Many schools still don't teach this.

A local teacher recently wrote to Connections, saying, "Frankly I don't think people know the history of segregation in Rochester from redlining, to zoning codes, to housing covenants, to the (1975 U.S. Supreme Court’s 5 – 4 decision) in favor of Penfield's blatantly discriminatory housing policies in Warth v Seldin." This teacher decided to create a unit for his students to explain it.

We sit down with Shane Wiegand, a Rush-Henrietta teacher, about how he teaches this subject, and how his students of all backgrounds react to it.

You can view Wiegand's slide presentation for his students on Redlining and the Great Migration, 1910-1970, here.