Students investigate how redlining structured unequal access to housing, wealth building, and public investment by closely reading maps, property records, and neighborhood data and citing evidence from primary and secondary sources. Through a role-based launch, quick claim-and-feedback cycle, and collaboration with a community historian or archival librarian, they build historical understanding by testing claims against local evidence. The work culminates in a public gallery of annotated maps and archive excerpts, where each student orally defends one exhibit panel and explains how their interpretation changed through critique and revision.

Students will analyze HOLC redlining maps, property records, census and neighborhood investment data, and archival excerpts to identify patterns in housing access, wealth building, and public or private investment across city neighborhoods. They will develop evidence-based claims about how redlining shaped opportunity, using close reading, source comparison, and precise citation of textual, visual, and quantitative evidence. Students will curate and annotate exhibit panels for a public gallery, revise their interpretations through peer and expert critique, and explain one panel in an oral defense that demonstrates historical accuracy and growth in their thinking.

Students will create a sequence of public-facing artifacts: a one-minute team claim after the launch scenario, annotated analysis notes on redlining maps, property records, and neighborhood data, and a draft exhibit panel for mid-project critique. The final product is a small gallery of annotated city maps and archive excerpts comparing redlined and non-redlined neighborhoods and highlighting patterns of housing access, wealth building, and city investment. Each student will also prepare a short oral defense of one exhibit panel for the live walkthrough, citing evidence clearly and explaining how the panel changed from draft to final after feedback. Together, these pieces culminate in a concise exhibit for Map the Divide Night with classmates, faculty, and a community historian or archival librarian.

Open with “Neighborhoods on Trial,” a fast role-based scenario in which students receive brief source cards as residents, lenders, planners, or archivists and respond to a fictional 1930s city council hearing about who should receive loans, services, and housing access. Then reveal actual HOLC redlining maps, a few property records, and neighborhood investment data from the same city so teams compare their initial decisions to historical evidence and draft a one-minute claim about how redlining shaped wealth and housing. Invite a community historian or archival librarian to give quick oral feedback on each claim, pointing out evidence gaps and suggesting which primary sources students should investigate next. Close by introducing the driving challenge: create an annotated mini-gallery that compares redlined and non-redlined areas and defend one exhibit panel during Map the Divide Night.

Host a “Map the Divide Night” where classmates, faculty, and a community historian or archival librarian circulate through a small gallery of annotated city maps, property records, and archive excerpts comparing redlined and non-redlined neighborhoods. Each student stands with one exhibit panel and gives a brief oral defense during live Q&A, citing evidence about housing access, wealth building, and patterns of investment or disinvestment. Include draft-to-final notes or selected sticky-note feedback beside panels so visitors can see how claims were revised for historical accuracy and stronger evidence. If space is limited, run it as a timed walkthrough in two rounds so every student presents and every guest can engage with multiple panels.