1. Pay attention to what happened to Clyde Ross, one example of a Black man who moved from the south to Chicago in the great migration. How does the information Coates provides about housing in Chicago complicate the perhaps more commonly known narrative of historical discrimination? Be sure to quote from at least one part of Coates’ text in Part I. Pay attention to the time period involved.
   1. The housing in Chicago was a scam for all black people. The whites were benefiting off of creating unfair contracts that they knew black people could not pay, and they made money off of it. The Federal Government stepped in to create laws to compete this racist and unfair payments. But, the law that was put in place, called the Federal Housing Administration, just furthered the separation between whites and blacks. The FHA created maps, where “…green areas, rated ‘A’, indicated ‘in demand’ neighborhoods that, as one appraiser put it, lacked ‘a single foreigner or Negro’…Neighborhoods where black poeple lived were rated ‘D’ and were usually considered ineligible for FHA backing” (Coates pg 6). The laws are created in order to disadvantage blacks, and when they are not changed, they continue to disadvantage blacks, but they below others, and continue to create inequality within our country.
2. As you read Part II, pay careful attention to the statistics/information. Pick 2-3 pieces of data that strike you as important in some way. Explain why.
   1. Many have a false notion that white and blacks lives, if they seem that they are the same, can be compared equally. This is completely false. Patrick Sharkey is a sociologist from New York who has done many different studies on blacks vs whites. One study was done on upper-middle class black families. He found these black families who were “making $100,000 typically live in the kinds of neighborhoods inhabited by white families making $30,000” (Coates pg 10). Usually upper-white class families live with other upper class families, but this is not the case for black families. Other research was done on comparing the Obama family with the Bush family. What Malia and Sasha Obama achieve “…will be evidence of their family’s singular perseverance , not of broad equality” (Coates pg 12). These children, though have gotten the same advantages, “…the comparison is incomplete” (Coates pg 12).

3. Coates reports that the Contract Buyer’s League was seeking “reparations,” as was Belinda Royall. What is the theft/fraud/crime for which they sought repair? Does it seem reasonable for them to seek reparations? Why or why not? Be sure to support your view with relevant passages.

1. The Contract Buyer’s League was seeking reparations of all the money and land taken from them by the lawless contractors. It is most definite reasonable for them to seek reparations, because this may be the only way to get the community back to normal. They did comparison of what North Lawndale was, and what it is today. These contractors destroyed this community, and it cannot be repaired without serious help from the government. The league lost and at the end of the case they knew “Securing the equal protection of the law proved hard; [but] securing reparations proved impossible” (Coates page 11). By the end of the case, they knew there was no way they were going to be able to get what they deserved, because of the cruel system that has not changed since the 1900s.