What does “home” mean to you?  Is it tied to where you live?   Ideally, our home provides comfort, stability, peace, opportunity, connection, relaxation, and safety.  Where we live may influence our lives in many ways including: the stress levels we experience, the educational, transportation, food,  and job opportunities that are readily available,  our health and well-being,  our exposure to crime and violence, and our family’s level of accumulated wealth.

Race in the United States has influenced where we live.  This project-based book will explore how race has influenced land ownership and housing policy, focusing on Oregon.  In essence, the project is a way of using the Sociological Imagination to examine where we live.  The Sociological Imagination requires an understanding of the connection between macro level social structures and the lives of individuals.  In this case, we are looking at the ways that the macro level of racial discrimination in housing and land ownership historically impact where we live.