Mapping Prejudice: The Growth of Racial Covenants in Minneapolis
A group of Minneapolis historians has set out to map the growth of racial covenants in Minneapolis, setting a foundation for community dialog on race in Minnesota. And YOU can volunteer to contribute to this important work!
What are racial covenants? Covenants are racial deed restrictions which were used in the 20th century to bar people who were not white from owning property. Racial covenants came to Minneapolis in 1910 and were a powerful form of segregation which formed the basis for the demographic patterns that remain across much of Minneapolis today. Residential segregation reinforces other disparities including employment, education, health care, home ownership, public space, and more.
In 1946, sixty percent of Minnesotans surveyed believed that African Americans should not have the freedom to live in any neighborhood. Covenants discriminated against many populations. Deeds often stated that properties “shall not at any time be conveyed, mortgaged, or leased to persons of Chinese, Japanese, Moorish, Turkish, Negro, Mongolian, Semetic or African blood or descent.“ Racial deed restrictions were used in Minneapolis into the 1950s and were common practice across the country until 1968 when the Fair Housing Act made them explicitly illegal.
Learn more about the Mapping Prejudice project and the history and affects of covenants in Minneapolis.
The Mapping Prejudice Project: Optical character recognition (OCR) has been used to identify over 30,000 deeds in Hennepin County which contain racial language. But computers can only do so much. The Mapping Prejudice team needs volunteers to examine text and complete a series of questions to verify racial language. Each document takes no more than a few minutes to examine. Contribute to local history today!
Photos from the Minneapolis Newspaper Photographs Collection in the Hennepin County Library Digital Collections. Map images created by Mapping Prejudice Project Manager Kevin Ehrman-Solberg. View the animated map at www.mappingprejudice.org.
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