A Documentary Film
Dividing
Dividing
Lines
Redlining and the American City
How does redlining continue to influence where people live, learn, and build wealth today?
Explore
Redlining and the American City
How does redlining continue to influence where people live, learn, and build wealth today?
HOLC Residential Security Map — Indianapolis
By tracing the history of Indianapolis, this documentary examines how redlining reshaped American cities and created enduring racial and economic disparities that continue to influence housing, wealth, and opportunity today.
By weaving historical records, contemporary accounts and expert interviews, the film asks a fundamental question about the lasting consequences of government-sanctioned discrimination.
"How does redlining continue to influence where people live, learn, and build wealth today?"
Indianapolis is a city that on the surface does not carry the same national reputation for racial conflict as cities in the South like Birmingham or other cities in the North like Chicago. Despite this, its historical record tells a different story.
The city offers a uniquely legible case study of redlining's impact, where policies in tandem with redlining helped segregate the city over generations.
Because Indianapolis reflects the same systems that shaped cities nationwide, it serves as a powerful and representative microcosm of redlining in America.
Indianapolis, c. 1895 — Indiana Historical Society
Muncie, Indiana, 1922 — the hidden history behind the surface
The physical difference between redlined and non-redlined neighborhoods remains starkly visible — a direct legacy of policies enacted decades ago.
Neighborhoods that received favorable lending grades saw sustained investment, property maintenance, and generational wealth accumulation. Homeowners could access mortgages, refinancing, and equity — the foundation of the American middle class.
Neighborhoods marked "hazardous" in red were systematically denied investment. Banks refused mortgages. Businesses relocated. Infrastructure deteriorated. The consequences compounded across generations, creating conditions that persist to this day.
These differences exist less than a mile apart in cities across America — not by accident, but by design.
In Indianapolis today, housing loss, eviction rates and tax foreclosures on homes are significantly higher in historically redlined neighborhoods than non-redlined ones.
Homes in historically redlined neighborhoods face lower property values and individuals in these areas have on average far lower incomes than in non-historically redlined areas.
Households in historically redlined neighborhoods have lower life expectancies. The state average is 77 while the life expectancy in some historically redlined neighborhoods is just 64.
All of these statistics are mirrored in historically redlined neighborhoods across the country. What happened in Indianapolis did not happen in isolation — it is the American story.
At a moment when national conversations around race and inequality are increasingly polarized, there remains a deep desire amongst many to understand how these disparities were created. Understanding redlining and its impact is key to uncovering how we got to where we are in America today.
As political and social divisions deepen, the desire for historical clarity about the origins of these divisions in society have continued to deepen as well.
Understanding redlining and its impact is key to uncovering these social divisions and how we got to where we are in America today. This is not a story about the past — it is an explanation of the present.
These communities did not simply develop into what we see today on their own. The conditions were created — by policy, by law, by design.
Research for the film includes direct examination of primary source materials housed in the Indiana State Library, the Indiana Historical Society and other local archives. This includes housing maps, government records, urban planning documents, racial covenants, zoning records, and contemporaneous reporting.
These materials form the evidence-based backbone of the film and ensure that its claims are supported by documented historical record.
Through the development of a 30-minute proof of concept, the project has already established relationships with scholars, historians, urban planners, city council members, and policymakers. This includes engagement with hundreds of Indianapolis residents and families directly impacted by redlining, highway construction, gentrification, and school segregation.
Residents who share lived experience of how redlining and neighborhood disinvestment shaped their community and family over generations.
Policy perspective on how historical decisions continue to influence zoning, infrastructure, and development patterns in Indianapolis today.
Academic expertise grounding the film's historical claims in rigorous scholarship and contextualizing Indianapolis within the national story of redlining.
The film draws on three distinct groups of voices, each essential to understanding both the history and the present reality of redlining's legacy.
The film centers on individuals and families in Indianapolis whose lives have been directly shaped by redlining, highway construction, school segregation, and subsequent disinvestment. These voices provide generational perspective connecting past policy decisions to present-day realities.
City planners, former and current officials, and local policymakers offer insight into how historical decisions continue to influence zoning, infrastructure, and development patterns in Indianapolis today. Their perspective bridges history and governance.
The film includes activists and community leaders currently working to address the long-term impact of redlining. Their work situates the documentary in the present moment, showing not only the consequences of redlining, but the responses to its impact as well.
A preview of the documentary — coming soon.
Director & Producer
Braxton Barnhill is a filmmaker driven by a commitment to uncover the hidden systems that shape everyday life. His work blends cinematic storytelling with investigative depth, combining on-the-ground interviews, archival research, and modern visual techniques to make complex histories feel immediate and undeniable.
For this documentary, Braxton brings a relentless, research-driven approach and a deep personal investment in the subject, grounded in years of study and direct engagement with communities shaped by these histories.
Executive Producer & Director of Photography
Mario Congreve is an award-winning filmmaker and cinematographer with over three decades of experience in documentary and television production. As founder of Pacific View Productions, he has produced and shot projects that have aired on major national and international networks, earning recognition from organizations including the Telly, Hermes, and Aegis Awards.
A longtime faculty member at California State University, Dominguez Hills, and Loyola Marymount University, Congreve brings both industry expertise and academic insight to his work.
On Dividing Lines he serves as Executive Producer and Director of Photography, helping shape the film's visual language and guide its production with a focus on capturing the historical weight and present-day realities of redlining in a grounded, cinematic style.
Upon completion of the film, neighborhood-based screenings in historically redlined areas of Indianapolis will be held, followed by moderated discussions with residents, historians, and policymakers.
Partnerships with local libraries, community centers, and advocacy organizations will facilitate public forums focused on housing equity, generational wealth, and urban development.
A youth-focused curriculum toolkit developed in partnership with organizations like the Indiana Historical Society, expanding on their "Rethinking Redlining and Segregation" initiative — with the goal of engaging middle and high school students city and statewide.
Distribution of student toolkits modeled after the rollout of Ted Green's film Eva: A-7063 — pursuing recognition through an official education initiative to ensure long-term integration into Indianapolis schools.
Across America there are neighborhoods that are economically struggling and are written off as being the way they are because of the character and work ethic of the people who live there. But in many cases those communities did not simply develop into what we see today on their own.
This project seeks to uncover the structural forces, policy decisions, lending practices, and patterns of disinvestment that helped create the conditions we see today in impoverished communities all over the country — in order to directly challenge negative narratives about the people who live in these communities.
While also examining the people, institutions and grassroots efforts working to address the lasting consequences of these policies today.
