A first map bringing together HOLC "redline" maps and 2010 census data in Augusta, GA, and North Augusta, SC

Ta-da!  My first map--or actually, my second as I accidentally clicked the back button on my web browser and lost the first one.  In this map, you'll see the Grade A - Grade D blocks that we all know a bit now in conversation with the 2010 census data about Black-headed households as a percentage of total population.  A magnum opus it is not.

What questions could you investigate and/or answer with your GIS?  Seeing the Savannah River that runs through the town of Augusta, dividing Augusta, GA, from North Augusta, SC, one of my first questions was about potentially differential ways in which officials in the state of Georgia made use of the "potential" of redlining versus those in the state of South Carolina.  Were there private discussions held between officials of those states and federal surveyors?  Why didn't the town on the South Carolina side of the river get a single grade A block?

What does your map do well and what are the limitations?  There is the beginning of a story in this map--with the historically Grade A neighborhood seeming to have a relatively smaller number of Black-headed households in 2010 than many other areas of the town and surrounding countryside; those areas designated Grades C and D corroborate that tale from the other side with relatively more Black-headed households in recent census data.  But there is so much that this map struggles with: first, at this scale, it is simply hard to read.  Without historical and interpretive context for the map reader, it would be nearly impossible to discern why this map is interesting at all.

What evidence from the GIS could you use to support a historical argument?  If this map were able to support an argument, the argument would be a story about access to land and property for different races in the Southern US in the latter half of the 20th century and beginning of the 21st, the process of determination of what land is desirable or not, and, generally, the fact of continuing racial segregation in this area.  The evidence itself comes from Black-headed households' proximity to and/or distance from the neighborhoods of various grades--something that, presumably, we could quantify with maps.  We would need a lot more data--and a much more sophisticated mapmaker--to tell that story, but I can see the outline.

What are some other sources you could add to the map to better understand the effects of redlining?  My mind goes wild with ideas about how to improve this map.  First, I need to learn a lot more about styles, visualizations, and aesthetics.  (I thought the map looked halfway decent when I went to print; now that I've uploaded it to the blog, I see it looks terrible.) Incorporating public health data at various intervals between the redlining itself and now would also add much empirical data to the story.  I'd love to see pop-up photos of what homes in the various blocks looked like--first, prior to redlining, then in the decade or so after redlining, and finally, today.  As someone who loves stories, I would also love to hear stories about what life what like for residents in each of those neighborhoods and, potentially, memories from anybody who lived through these decades and could describe change and continuity.

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