The Legacy Lives On...
Kristen Delegard, a co-founder of the Mapping Prejudice Project, joined us via zoom to share information about this important project exploring racial covenants written into land contracts and our willful amnesia in owning these covenants and understanding how these laid the foundation for the racial disparities we have in our society today. In 1910, Edmond Walton introduced the first racial covenant into land ownership. Here is an example:
Kristen shared with us the mapping results that have been done and showed the methodical way in which land was divided up so that white society could enjoy the choice areas of land in the Twin Cities. She also showed how the highway system and "Urban Renewal" destroyed and dispersed areas where Black and Brown people lived and had thriving communities.
These covenants were binding and it wasn't until 1953 that this practice began to be outlawed. In 1953 in Minnesota it was illegal to include new covenants, but allowed existing ones to remain. In 1962 Minnesota passed a law banning them outright. in 1968 a federal law was passed for fair housing. These steps did not stop the disparity and gave way to Red Lining, the systemic practice of mortgage lenders of drawing red lines around portions of a map to indicate areas or neighborhoods in which they do not want to make loans.
We are still living with the fallout of this legacy and the Mapping Prejudice project hopes to expand their efforts state-wide and is currently working on mapping Ramsey County. If you are interested in participating in this program, please click here for more details.
If you would like a copy of the presentation, please let Shelley know and she will email it to you.