KOFI BOONE: There was some political geographers who did a study of over 100 Southern cities in the United States.

Across all these, those 100 cities, higher ground predominantly white, lower ground predominantly Black and Brown, right?

And so they called that phenomenon "racialized topography."

So they can predict the racial makeup of certain landscapes, it's based on race.

♪ A lot of these cities and towns, particularly Tarboro, which is right across the river, right across the Tar River, dates back to, you know, the days of George Washington, really the foundings of, you know, the, the U.S. colonies.

The white folks, essentially, in the Southeast claimed all the high ground for their towns and their cities.

So you could buy land, but you kind of bought it knowing that it was land that was refused or undesirable to white folks.

Freedom Hill and Princeville -- Freedom Hill, ironically, "hill" -- they built up the land in a flood plain, in a valley that's designed to flood.

And it's not unique to Princeville.

There are many, many, many cities that are like that.