BurdenMap — Mapping the Geography of Injustice

Also on BurdenMap

American Slavery:
An Interactive Historical Atlas

246 years of documented data — state by state, decade by decade. Mapping the geography, economy, and violence of American slavery from 1619 to 1865. The same boundaries that defined who was enslaved became the boundaries that defined who was redlined.

4MEnslaved at emancipation

246^yrYears of legal slavery

$3.5BEnslaved people as property

57^%Peak enslaved — Mississippi

Explore the Slavery Atlas

Interactive Dashboard

Lynchburg, VA — Pilot City

The interactive GIS dashboard layers HOLC redlining boundaries, census equity data, environmental justice scores, food access, lead pipe risk, and Flock LPR surveillance cameras — all mapped against 1937 grade boundaries that still predict outcomes today.

Full Screen Get PDF Report

Interactive GIS Dashboard

Lynchburg, VA — Redlining & Equity Audit

15 Flock cameras · 23 census tracts · HOLC 1937 · Full layer controls

12.8^yrLife expectancy gap

82^%Ward II redlined

40^%Cameras in redlined zones

Open Full Map

Best experienced full-screen. Data: ACS 2022 · HOLC 1937 · CDC PLACES · EPA EJScreen · VA DOH HOI · LPD

Key Findings

What the Data Reveals

Life Expectancy Gap

12.8^yr

Ward II vs. Ward III

Ward II residents live nearly 13 fewer years than Ward III on average. The gap follows the 1930s HOLC boundary almost exactly — 30 years later, it's still there.

Redlining Coverage

82^%

of Ward II Was Redlined

82% of Ward II received Grade D ("Hazardous") in the 1930s HOLC appraisal. Today, 50% of its tracts remain in Grade D. Ward III: 4% Grade D.

Surveillance

40^%

Flock Cameras in Grade D

40% of LPD's 15 Flock license plate readers sit in the highest-redlined tracts — the same areas with the lowest incomes, greatest health disparities, and highest poverty.

Environmental Burden

84^th

Environmental Burden Percentile

Ward II ranks 84th nationally for cumulative environmental burden — air toxics, Superfund proximity, and wastewater discharge sites concentrated in formerly redlined blocks.

Food Access

89^/100

Food Desert Score

Grade D tracts score 89/100 on the food desert index. Only 28% of residents have primary grocery access vs. 84% in Grade A areas of Ward III.

Income Gap

$42^K

Income Gap Between Wards

Median income in Ward II is $42,580 below Ward III. Poverty rate: 44.8% in Ward II vs. 8.4% in Ward III — a 36-percentage-point gap tracing directly to redlining.

Map Layers

Every Layer Tells Part of the Story

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Historical

HOLC Redlining Polygons

1930s federal grade boundaries showing which neighborhoods were locked out of homeownership, investment, and public services — still predicting outcomes today.

📊

ACS 5-Year

Census Heat Maps

Income, homeownership, poverty, race, and life expectancy by census tract — heat-mapped against HOLC boundaries to reveal persistent inequities.

⚗️

Mirrored

Environmental Justice

Air toxics, Superfund proximity, and wastewater discharge from EPA EJScreen — mirrored after federal data removal in February 2025.

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USDA + WVWA

Food Deserts & Lead Pipes

USDA food atlas combined with WVWA lead service line inventory. Block-level grocery access and lead pipe risk mapped against HOLC grades.

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Public Records

Flock LPR Cameras

All 15 LPD Flock Safety license plate reader locations from public records requests, mapped against HOLC grades. FOIA request for retention data: denied.

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Built-in Tool

Ward Comparison Tool

Select any two wards, compare 14 equity metrics side by side, and export a full PDF audit report with citations and policy recommendations.

About

Redlining Ended. Its Effects Did Not.

BurdenMap is a national civic GIS platform documenting how historical federal policy continues to shape health outcomes, environmental exposure, food access, and policing patterns across American cities. Lynchburg, Virginia is our pilot city.

Between 1935 and 1940, federal HOLC appraisers graded Lynchburg neighborhoods A through D. Grade D areas — labeled "Hazardous" — were predominantly Black. Those boundaries still predict where people get sick, go hungry, breathe polluted air, and are surveilled today.

We use open-source GIS tools, public records, and community input to produce independent equity audits — making spatial data accessible to journalists, advocates, researchers, and residents.

"Where you live should not determine how long you live — but in Lynchburg, it does."

Commission an Audit →

HOLC Grade System — Lynchburg 1930s

A — Best Desirable, investment-worthy

B — Still Desirable Stable, lower priority loans

C — Definitely Declining Aging, limited investment

D — Hazardous (Redlined) Denied loans, predominantly Black

Ward II: 82% Grade D · Ward III: 4% Grade D
Grade D = predominantly Black neighborhoods in the 1930s.
The same lines still predict life expectancy in 2026.

Data Sources

Built on Public Records

Category	Source	Description
Historical	HOLC Redlining Maps	1930s Home Owners' Loan Corporation grade polygons, Lynchburg metro region.
Census	ACS 5-Year Estimates	Income, homeownership, poverty, race, life expectancy — 23 Lynchburg census tracts.
Environmental	EJScreen v2.3 (PEDP Mirror)	EPA EJ data mirrored after federal removal. ⚠ Removed from EPA.gov Feb 2025
Food Access	USDA Food Access Atlas	Grocery access and food desert designations by census tract across Lynchburg.
Infrastructure	WVWA Lead Inventory	Western Virginia Water Authority lead service line inventory — block-level risk.
Surveillance	Flock LPR Public Records	15 Flock Safety camera locations from Lynchburg PD public records requests.
Boundaries	Lynchburg ArcGIS API	Live ward and census tract boundaries from the City of Lynchburg GIS open data portal.
Methodology	Mapping Inequality	Robert K. Nelson et al., Mapping Inequality: Redlining in New Deal America, 2023.