The Black History Monopoly Game

Hint: It’s Rigged

Bill Branson (Photographer), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

I grew up playing the board game Monopoly. Players compete to acquire wealth by buying and renting property using play money. The game is won by driving the other players into bankruptcy. Parker Brothers owns the rights to the game. The original version of the game is based on Atlantic City, New Jersey. Charles Darrow is often credited as the inventor, but he’s more accurately described as the final developer. Versions of Monopoly had existed for years before Parker Brothers acquired the game from Darrow.

The game features forty spaces, comprised of twenty-eight properties, three Chance squares, three Community Chest spaces, a Luxury Tax space, and an Income Tax space. The four corners are Go, Jail, Free Parking, and Go To Jail. In the original version, each player was given $1,500 to start the game and represented by a token. Players would choose between a race car, a thimble, a battleship, a howitzer, a horse and rider, and others that have changed over the years.

There are hundreds of versions representing different cities and countries. The Marvel Universe has editions for the Avengers, Fantastic Four, and Captain America. There is a Star Wars Monopoly and one for Barbie. I submit there should be a historically accurate Black Monopoly with properties, rents, and Chance and Community Chest cards representative of Black History, which is becoming increasingly hidden in America.

All of the property names wouldn’t have to change. The B&O Railroad was one of the first railroads in the nation. It leased enslaved people for labor. The Pennsylvania and Reading Railroads in the game were inspired by the Pennsylvania & Reading Railroad, which also leased slaves, as did most of the railroads in the East and South. The Boardwalk could remain, as long as we acknowledge that the Atlantic City Boardwalk and beaches were segregated. Even now, the effects of redlining are evident in the city's demographics.

Some new properties in Black Monopoly could be the Greenwood District of Tulsa, OK, also known as Black Wall Street. We might need two squares, a before and an after. Greenwood was a thriving area with dozens of Black businesses and professionals, but then a white mob burned down 35 square blocks and drove Black people out of the district. The after square might be the internment camp containing 6,000 Black people.

Other properties could include the Mississippi River internment camps established after the 1927 Mississippi River Flood or the city of Natchez, Mississippi, after the Civil War. I mustn’t overlook the beauty of Harlem during the Harlem Renaissance.

Black churches need to be represented like Mother Emanuel in Charleston, where Dylann Roof killed nine people who had just finished praying with him. How about the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, where four little girls were killed in a bombing on Youth Day? The game should also include the Lorraine Motel and Audubon Ballroom.

The Community Chest is the Monopoly version of United Way. Often, you receive money or pay a small fee to support a good cause. Black Monopoly could require a donation to the NAACP or a local church. You may receive money due to a bank error or a tax refund. The Chance card might send you to a property you may or may not own. If nobody owns it, you have the opportunity to buy it. Many players finance purchases by mortgaging existing properties. The bank may reject loaning you money due to redlining and will charge you a higher interest rate.

To accurately reflect mass incarceration, there should be multiple spaces telling you to Go Directly to Jail, Do not pass Go, Do not collect $200. To get out, you must show proof of employment and/or have a white person vouch for you.

An advanced version will allow Black Players to compete against white players. There are separate rules. White players start with $1,500 while Black ones begin with $300. Black players can only purchase properties in the segregated section, formerly Baltic and Mediterranean Avenues. When attempting to build houses and hotels. Black players are unable to obtain FHA financing for all versions set before 1968, due to the Fair Housing Act. A special Chance card for Black players allows them to be lynched. All property and cash of the lynched player must be turned over to the nearest white person.

At any time, the white person can raise rents and taxes on Black people without notice. Should a white person go to jail, they can use a signature bond and be released on their next turn. The Black person must roll doubles or pay a $50 fine to be released after three turns. Should a white person become bankrupt, they are entitled to a government bailout to tide them over until better times.

I envision a progressive game that covers enslavement, the Civil War, the Black Codes, Reconstruction, Jim Crow, and MAGA. You have to start at the beginning and cover all six eras. Don’t look for this game in schools or libraries, as it will likely be banned.