Forging Democracy: The Connection Between the Current Mortgage Industry and Postbellum Virginia

Authors

  • Ely Hahami The Lawrenceville School
  • Clare Grieve The Lawrenceville School

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.47611/jsrhs.v11i3.2854

Keywords:

American History, Economics

Abstract

An essential element of the American dream is owning a home in the neighborhood of one’s choice. But what happens when banks discriminate against minorities and consequently undermine fair mortgage lending laws? The implications cannot be understated: by denying minority families mortgage credit, the financial industry is essentially denying them the opportunity to accumulate household wealth. However, mortgage lenders are intentionally (and in other cases unintentionally) discriminating against blacks and Hispanics — a prominent issue that undermines past fair lending statutes and threatens democracy within the United States. Unfortunately, though, this is not the first time in American history where the law has been loopholed. In the same way racist county judges subverted postbellum legislation by excluding black citizens from jury pools in postbellum Virginia, mortgage lending firms are deliberately undermining fair lending laws by targeting minority communities and manipulating the process so that minorities end up with high-cost loans; however, even among well-intended, color-blind organizations who do not pursue this predatory lending strategy, minority customers may not be receiving equal treatment, ultimately demonstrating that anti-discrimination laws can become Madisonian parchment barriers regardless of the intent of the institutions that perpetrate the discrimination.

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References or Bibliography

Bibliography

Fair Housing -- Equal Opportunity for All, 1 Stat. (Apr. 11, 1968). Accessed March 3, 2022. https://www.hud.gov/sites/documents/FHEO_BOOKLET_ENG.PDF.

Grodzins, Dean, and David Moss. “Race, Justice, and the Jury System in Postbellum Virginia” HBS N9-716-047. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, 2016.

Steil, Justin P., Len Albright, Jacob S. Rugh, and Douglas S. Massey. "The Social Structure of Mortgage Discrimination." National Center for Biotechnology Information. Last modified November 3, 2017. Accessed March 2, 2022. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6084476/.

Turner, Margery Austin, Fred Freiberg, Erin Godfrey, Carla Herbig, Diane K. Levy, and Robin R. Smith. "All Other Things Being Equal: A Paired Testing Study of Mortgage Lending Institutions." Housing Urban Development. Last modified April 2002. Accessed March 3, 2022. https://www.huduser.gov/publications/pdf/aotbe.pdf.

Turner, Margery Austin, and Felicity Skidmore. "Mortgage Lending Discrimination: A Review of Existing Evidence." Edited by Michelle DeLair, David Levine, Diane Levy, Steven Ross, Robin Smith, Kenneth Temkin, and John Yinger. The Urban Institute. Accessed March 2, 2022. https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/66151/309090-Mortgage-Lending-Discrimination.PDF.

Published

08-31-2022

How to Cite

Hahami, E., & Grieve, C. (2022). Forging Democracy: The Connection Between the Current Mortgage Industry and Postbellum Virginia. Journal of Student Research, 11(3). https://doi.org/10.47611/jsrhs.v11i3.2854

Issue

Section

HS Research Projects