Flint Water Crisis

Historical context 

Flint!

Background on Michigan

People could own homes and cars,
and pay for higher education for their children.

Michigan’s 20th century financial success
was dependent on
automobile manufacturing.

Many jobs were accessible to people without college education and provided good pay, benefits, and pensions.

Background on Michigan

  • Access to less expensive labor overseas

By the mid-20th century, the industry faced many challenges:

  • Weakening of labor unions
  • Increased efficiency due to technological advances meant fewer laborers were needed
  • New jobs often required technical knowledge acquired through advanced education
  • 1970s oil crisis shifted demand toward smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles, but American companies were slow to respond to this shift

Background on Flint, MI

As GM sold fewer and fewer vehicles,
they began closing manufacturing plants

Major manufacturing hub for General Motors

Made many parts used in GM’s vehicles

Led to reduction in the tax base which impacted funding
for municipal government and public schools

Many residents with the means to do so moved away

Decreased tax base further

Like many cities in the early 20th century, Flint was segregated by...
racially restrictive covenants.

Racially restrictive covenants are contract agreements that prohibit the purchase, lease, or occupation of a piece of land by people of a specific race.

On top of the system of
racially restrictive covenants,
the New Deal introduced a system of redlining.

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) was created in 1934 as part of the New Deal to insure private mortgages.

As a result, banks offered mortgages at lower interest rates and smaller down payments,
but only on mortgages backed by the FHA.

When the FHA deemed a neighborhood to be a risky investment, they drew a red line around it on maps.
These redlined neighborhoods were mostly black.   

1970s

Movement of Black residents led to blockbusting
& White Flight

1940 Census

Flint is 3rd most racially segregated city in America.

1940 - 1947

Black population doubles, but builders only constructed 25 privately financed new homes in Black communities.

By 1960, the Black population had tripled since 1940.

"Slum clearance" of late 1960s

Plan to clear Black neighborhoods for road construction

& industrial parks

Black population increased from 54, 237 to 66,164

Between 1970 & 1980...

White population decreased from 138,065 to 89,470

By 1980, Flint was 40% Black & most of
the Black population was located in the Northwest

"The 48505 ZIP Code, which covers Northern Flint...
lost 72% of its employment... between 1998 and 2013."

HOLC Maps

Racial Dot Map

Other cities with similar patterns...