"Racial Steering"

In terms of geographical separation, Little Rock’s neighborhoods are more segregated today than they were seventy years ago. In the 1950s and 1960s, through slum clearance and urban renewal projects, the city tore up black areas of residence and relocated African Americans to the east and south of the city. At the same time, predominantly white suburbs sprawled to the north and west. This geographical segregation was aided by the practice of “racial steering,” in which real estate agents sought to exercise illegal control over the housing market. Real estate agents would only show African Americans property in existing black areas of residence, and they would only show whites property in existing areas of white residence. In doing so, they ensured the perpetuation and extension of segregated housing patterns already established by other means. I’m John Kirk, of the UALR History Department, and this has been an Arkansas Moment.