Back Story to the Neoliberal Moment: Race Taxes and the Political Economy of Black Urban Housing in the 1960s

In scholarship on race and housing, Black poverty is used to explain the overrepresentation of African Americans in substandard housing. This practice has masked how many African Americans were actually able to afford comparable homes to whites in the housing market, but the existence of a "dual housing" market created a captive Black market where more was paid for inferior housing. Blacks are estimated to have paid tens of thousands of dollars more for substandard housing-payments popularly known in Black communities as "race taxes." This practice would be counted as a factor in Black rebellions in the 1960s.