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Segregation: Saint Louis History

In the 1910s, Saint Louis passed a reform that generated racial segregation between zipcodes. This is known as Red Lining

White neighborhoods enforced contracts that prevented the selling of homes to members of the black community, and many black families were forcefully evicted from the neighborhoods that were deemed “white”.

Black communities were destroyed by poor public funding allocation, as well as by lack of funding for public education and medical care. While the reform was overturned, the consequences are still apparent today. Generational poverty exists for many black families and the lack of resources has made social mobility for future generations nearly impossible. 

This separation of social, economic, and racial constructs have translated into significant limitations in modern black-business growth and both available and accessible resources for minorities. The line of separation is commonly known as the Delmar Divide.