Lesson 3: Building Background Knowledge: Redlining, Who Gets to Own the Dream?

Think-Pair-Share

Directions: Open yourHomework Journal and reread one idea you noted in homework. Then look closely at the redlining map. Turn to a partner and share one thing you notice about how the city is divided and one idea you already have about how that might connect to housing opportunities. Partner A, you have 30 seconds to share. Partner B, listen for one observation and one idea. Then switch.

• What do you notice about the redlining map, and how does it help you understand what redlining means?

• How does this topic connect to what we learned from Rosskam’s South Side Chicago photographs and Hughes’s idea of a deferred dream?

• What have you learned from reading this article once about why homeownership has not been equally possible for Black Americans?

Using Context Clues to Understand Meaning

Read the following vocabulary words and sentences where those words appeared in the nonfiction text you read:

• homeownership: owning the home where you live

  • “But Norrington's homeownership success story is an increasingly rare one for Black Americans.”

• intergenerational wealth: money, property, or assets passed from one generation of a family to the next

  • “It is also the key to building intergenerational wealth.”

• redlining: refusing loans or services to people in certain neighborhoods because of race

  • “But one way Black people and other minority groups were left out systematically was through a process known as ‘redlining’ which labeled certain areas as ‘risky’ for a home loan.

• How are these three terms connected?

Directions: First, reread the article introduction and, like before, stop before the heading “Beneath the Santa Monica Freeway, lies the erasure of Sugar Hill.” Pay close attention to the opening paragraphs because that is where we will gather all of our evidence today.

As you read this time, notice that this informational text opens in a way that feels almost like a story. Even when a text reads like a narrative, we can still stop, pull out facts, and learn a lot about the dream of homeownership and the barriers standing in the way.

Directions: After you read the introduction, begin a KWL chart using the 3 Column Chart. Write the title Homeownership for Black Americans. In the first column, write K for Know. In that column, include at least one response to this question: What do Rosskam’s South Side Chicago photographs and Hughes’s poem “Harlem” already teach us about dreams and barriers? In the second column, write W for Want to Know, and write what you want to find out from the rest of the article. In the third column, write L for Learn. You’ll add information there a little later.

• Based on the introduction alone, what is one idea you already have about the article’s topic, and what is one question you want the article to answer?

Close Reading an Article

Directions: When we reread a text, we slow down and notice things that we didn’t the first time we read it. Now, as you read this part of the text again, follow this checklist:

• Underline details that show why homeownership matters. ox details that show a barrier to that dream.

• Circle the vocabulary words homeownership, intergenerational wealth, and redlining when they appear.

• Prepare to use one exact detail from the text in your discussion.

• What detail from the beginning of the article shows that homeownership is presented as a dream?

• What detail from the beginning of the article shows that there is a barrier in the way of that dream?

• Even though the beginning reads a little like a story, what information can readers still learn from it?

Directions: Return to your KWL chart and add to the L column with new learning from the article. Then add at least one new question to the W column if the reading inspired more questions in your mind.

• What is one new learning you added to the L column?

• What is one new question you added to the W column?

Whole Class Discussion

Directions: Collect class questions that came from the beginning of the article and your KWL charts. Listen for questions that push us to understand the system more deeply. As classmates share, jot down one question you want to keep investigating.

• What is one question our class should carry into the next lesson?

Directions: Think about how today’s article deepened your understanding of the American Dream. In your response, use at least two specific details from before the heading “Beneath the Santa Monica Freeway.”

Quick Write

• What is one thing you understand about homeownership for Black Americans after today’s lesson, and what question do you still have? Use at least two specific details from the beginning of the article and use at least one of these words in your response: homeownership, intergenerational wealth, or redlining.