During this period, the major cities of the North began characterizing African American neighborhoods in the North as ghettos (Schaller, et al pg 171). These cities created massive urban renewal projects that tore down black neighborhoods and forced African American people into huge, high rise housing projects. Pruitt-Igoe is just one example of this racial segregation phenomenon. There was also a widespread belief that public housing was viewed as a communist erosion of the free market and labelled as “un-American”. In the 1940's, cities were clearing out and urban flight drained American cities. There was a loss of the middle class and exponential growth in the suburbs. The federal government made it a priority to make the suburbs affordable to the white middle class, while not showing much concern for its lower class minorities. During this period, racial segregation was still active and was viewed as the norm. According to the film,