The term blockbusting might have originated in Chicago, Illinois, where real estate companies and building developers used agents provocateurs. These were non-white people hired to deceive the white residents of a neighborhood into believing that black people were moving into their neighborhood.

When was blockbusting invented?

Blockbusting dates back to the early 1900s and reached its peak in the years after World War II. The practice has a long history in Chicago, still one of the nation's most segregated cities. Violence was used to keep the neighborhood of Englewood white, but it didn't work.

Does blockbusting still exist?

"Blockbusting" has been illegal since the Fair Housing Act of 1968. Yet racial segregation remains a "defining feature of American cities." "Blockbusting" emerged as a result. ... The practice of blockbusting has been illegal since the Fair Housing Act of 1968.