full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Kevin Ehrman-Solberg and Kirsten Delegard: The dark history of the suburbs

Unscramble the Blue Letters


Not only was this legal, but the US fearedl Housing Administration promoted racial covenants in their uetniirnrdwg manual. While constructing new homes, real estate developers began racially restricting them from the outset. Developments were planned as dream communities for American families— but for white people only. In 1947, one cponmay baegn bduiilng what became widely roeigczned as the prototype of the postwar American suburb: Levittown, New York. It was a cmnmtouiy of more than 17,000 identical homes. They cost around $7,000 each and were intended to be affordable for returning World War II veterans. But, according to Levittown’s racial cvoeannts, none of the houses could “be used or occupied by any person other than members of the Caucasian race,” with one exception: servants.

Open Cloze


Not only was this legal, but the US _______ Housing Administration promoted racial covenants in their ____________ manual. While constructing new homes, real estate developers began racially restricting them from the outset. Developments were planned as dream communities for American families— but for white people only. In 1947, one _______ _____ ________ what became widely __________ as the prototype of the postwar American suburb: Levittown, New York. It was a _________ of more than 17,000 identical homes. They cost around $7,000 each and were intended to be affordable for returning World War II veterans. But, according to Levittown’s racial _________, none of the houses could “be used or occupied by any person other than members of the Caucasian race,” with one exception: servants.

Solution


  1. community
  2. company
  3. covenants
  4. underwriting
  5. began
  6. federal
  7. building
  8. recognized

Original Text


Not only was this legal, but the US Federal Housing Administration promoted racial covenants in their underwriting manual. While constructing new homes, real estate developers began racially restricting them from the outset. Developments were planned as dream communities for American families— but for white people only. In 1947, one company began building what became widely recognized as the prototype of the postwar American suburb: Levittown, New York. It was a community of more than 17,000 identical homes. They cost around $7,000 each and were intended to be affordable for returning World War II veterans. But, according to Levittown’s racial covenants, none of the houses could “be used or occupied by any person other than members of the Caucasian race,” with one exception: servants.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
racial covenants 8
real estate 2
white people 2
american suburbs 2


Important Words


  1. administration
  2. affordable
  3. american
  4. began
  5. building
  6. caucasian
  7. communities
  8. community
  9. company
  10. constructing
  11. cost
  12. covenants
  13. developers
  14. developments
  15. dream
  16. estate
  17. federal
  18. homes
  19. houses
  20. housing
  21. identical
  22. ii
  23. intended
  24. legal
  25. levittown
  26. manual
  27. members
  28. occupied
  29. outset
  30. people
  31. person
  32. planned
  33. postwar
  34. promoted
  35. prototype
  36. race
  37. racial
  38. racially
  39. real
  40. recognized
  41. restricting
  42. returning
  43. servants
  44. underwriting
  45. veterans
  46. war
  47. white
  48. widely
  49. world
  50. york