The Re-Emergence of Contract Buying: A Practice Rooted in Mid-20th Century Racism
Long after the explicit use of racist terms in laws, policies with important racial impacts can linger in past practices that marginalize minority communities. Beryl Satter’s Family Properties: How the Struggle Over Race and Real Estate Transformed Chicago and Urban America, describes a key historical case of mid-century real estate practices that led to entrenched segregation and racial wealth disparities: contract buying. Unfortunately, the practice may be making a comeback in Detroit.
