In 1930, a realtor turned University of Chicago economist, Homer Hoyt, created an economic model based on extensive real estate data that revealed that real estate in a neighborhood declined as soon as a few blacks purchased property there. The lower market values were a result, he explained, “due entirely to racial prejudice, which may have no reasonable basis.”129 This declining property value did not affect the home prices of most immigrant groups—only blacks and Mexicans. This is why whites were so vigilant in keeping blacks out of their neighborhoods. They were motivated not only by
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