Stories from 18th Ave South
One of my favorite places to go to understand the history of Minneapolis and how our city was shaped is Mapping Prejudice. The Mapping Prejudice Project identifies and maps racial covenants; clauses that were inserted into property deeds to keep people who were not white from buying or occupying homes. The maps they created demonstrate how structural racism created the housing landscape in Minneapolis, legally defining who could live where and thus who had access to owning a home and in what areas of the city. The racial covenants inserted into many deeds in Minneapolis were the basis for the federal government's redlining policies developed during the creation of the Federal Housing Authority in the 1930s. Mapping Prejudice also presents individual stories of people of color who purchased non-covenanted homes in white neighborhoods, and the often violent backlash they faced from their white neighbors. Many of us are familiar with the story of the Lee family, who purchased a home...