For half of the 20th century, Black people in Milwaukee and other cities were not legally allowed to live where they wanted. A list of policies and institutional processes were in place to keep Black and white neighborhoods separate.<\/p>\n
One lesser-known means to that end was covenants. Clauses in a property\u2019s deed, covenants were conditions of sale that stipulated that only members of the white race could purchase, own or live on that piece of real estate.<\/p>\n
Covenants were commonplace by the turn of the 20 th century. And, although their use declined in the 1950s when they were no longer enforceable, covenants have relevance today. To understand today\u2019s segregation, where it happened in the past and how people responded are vital parts of the story that are often unknown.<\/p>\n
On this episode of Curious Campus, researchers Anne Bonds, associate professor of geography at 51ÁÔÆæ, and Derek Handley, assistant professor of English, discuss their research project, \u201cMapping Racism and Resistance in Milwaukee County.\u201d Here\u2019s a bit of what you\u2019ll hear on the full episode.<\/p>\n
Bonds: Covenants began appearing after a Supreme Court ruling in 1917 struck down what\u2019s called racial zoning \u2013 where a city would actually designate a certain area to be the only area where the African American community could live. Covenants emerged as a mechanism to continue white control of where non-whites could live.<\/p>\n
By 1928, roughly half of all homes owned by white Americans had race-restrictive covenants attached to their deeds, including many suburban areas of Milwaukee \u2013 Wauwatosa, Shorewood, West Allis, and Greenfield, to name a few.<\/p>\n
Derek and I had the idea to produce a map for Milwaukee County that would depict both the location of past covenants and the stories of resistance to restrictive housing so people could see the effects of covenants.<\/p>\n
The hope is that seeing them documented on a map can educate people and help ease the public conversation about segregation.<\/p>\n Bonds: Right. But what the covenants show is that segregation during the 1910-1960 period wasn\u2019t accidental. It was by conscious design, and it was something that was not only legal, but required the backing and participation of multiple kinds of institutions and agencies \u2013 from realtors and developers to banks.<\/p>\n This kind of institutionalized racism is invisible \u2013 a lot of white people today don\u2019t know it ever existed. So, covenants help us understand the way institutional racism works.<\/p>\n Handley: Segregation wasn\u2019t just in the South. That\u2019s why Minneapolis and Milwaukee are consistently ranked among the top five worst U.S. cities for Black people.<\/p>\n And then there\u2019s this issue of passing down intergenerational wealth. For the average American, owning a home is one of the main ways to accrue wealth or pass it on to the next generation.<\/p>\n Today in Milwaukee, that inequality in homeownership between whites and Blacks is also among the largest in the country. Only 26% of Blacks own their homes, while 72% of whites do.<\/p>\n Bonds: The story has always been told that Milwaukee never had racial zoning. But what we found through going through the Milwaukee Board of Realtors scrapbooks is that, in fact, that board was proposing an effort in 1924 to designate an area that they were calling a \u201cBlack Belt.\u201d That would have been against the law. It sparked incredible protest and members of the African Black Episcopal churches were organizing with the NAACP. In the end, the Board of Realtors backed off.<\/p>\n Handley: Specific community organizations formed in cities, not only to teach citizens how to organize, but also to teach them how to speak at public hearings or talk to landlords. That happened in Milwaukee, where the Walnut Avenue Improvement Committee Organization formed to rehab houses to address blight.<\/p>\n We also saw the establishment of the Black-owned Columbia Savings and Loan in Milwaukee. Because of racism, Black people could not get a loan to buy a home. So Black people created something for themselves. So, to me, that\u2019s resistance!<\/p>\n Handley: The term \u201crhetoric\u201d is often associated with speeches. But in this case, rhetoric refers to the arguments used to form the basis of community activism. It can be argumentation theory. It can be writing that people used. It could be visuals.<\/p>\n My research deals with rhetorical strategies of civil rights and segregation protests \u2013 the arguments that drove African American resistance in the urban North. I\u2019m currently finishing a book that examines urban renewal policies that came out in 1950s but played out differently in Pittsburgh, Milwaukee and St. Paul. So, I\u2019m looking at rhetorical strategies in response to the demolition that occurred during the urban renewal period and also in the northern civil rights struggles over housing.<\/p>\nWhat is the point of studying covenants today? They no longer exist, right?<\/h3>\n
What are some of the stories you\u2019ve uncovered while working on \u201cMapping Racism\u201d?<\/h3>\n
Derek, tell us more about your research into African American rhetoric in protests.<\/h3>\n