The following article summarizes the original event which is listed below the summary.
Mapping Prejudice
How can you see prejudice on a map of a city? Geographers, historians, and thousands of citizen volunteers are making it possible to visualize the hidden history of race and privilege in the Twin Cities landscapes that we love and travel through each day.
The Mapping Prejudice Project, based in the Borchert Map Library at the University of Minnesota, is mapping racial covenants in the Twin Cities. Racial covenants are short clauses of text embedded into property deeds that barred non-whites from buying or occupying a parcel of land. Although these clauses were made illegal by the 1968 Fair Housing Act, their legacy continues today in the Twin Cities, which has some of the largest racial disparities in the country.
UMRA A.M. | Mapping prejudice
Tue, October 13 2020, 9am
Event to be held via Zoom.
How can you see prejudice on a map of a city? Answer: When dedicated scholars illuminate what was built into the most fundamental planning decisions of who got to live where. Geographers, historians, and thousands of citizen volunteers are making it possible to visualize this previously hidden history of race and privilege in the landscapes that we love and travel through each day.
You are invited to join Kirsten Delegard, director and co-founder of the Mapping Prejudice Project, for an eye-opening UMRA A.M. at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, October 13, via Zoom. Delegard will be introduced by UMRA member and former Dean of Libraries Wendy Pradt Lougee.
The Mapping Prejudice Project, based in the Borchert Map Library at the University of Minnesota, is mapping racial covenants in the Twin Cities. Racial covenants are clauses—a couple lines of text—that were embedded into property deeds to bar people who were not white from buying or even occupying parcels of land to which the covenants were attached.
Illuminating structural racism
Covenants were made illegal by the 1968 Fair Housing Act. But their legacy continues today in the Twin Cities, which has some of the largest racial disparities in the country. The Mapping Prejudice Project is designed to reveal, in the words of American author and historian Ibram Kendi, the “racism behind these racial disparities.” It illuminates how structural racism shaped the urban landscape, blocking African Americans from critical avenues for housing stability and the accumulation of wealth.
Delegard is a third-generation Minneapolitan and public historian. To explore the complex history of her hometown, she established Mapping Prejudice as well as The Historyapolis Project. A graduate of the Minneapolis Public Schools and Wesleyan University, she holds a PhD in history from Duke University, where she spent her graduate school years exploring American social movements, comparative women’s history, and the history of women and politics in the United States.
In addition to her appointment in the University of Minnesota Libraries, she has a faculty affiliation with the Department of Geography, Environment & Society and the Heritage Studies and Public History Program in the College of Design.
Please register and join us for UMRA A.M. on October 13.
—Jan Morlock, UMRA president-elect and Program Committee chair
Upcoming Events
We are fortunate to have UMRA member and former Minnesota Landscape Arboretum director Peter Moe to lead this approximately 3.7-mile hike at the Arboretum on Monday, May 6. Plan to have lunch together after the hike at the Eatery café inside the Oswald Visitor Center.
This session will continue the discussion begun in the May 8, 2023 session. See that article for details.
If you currently live in your own home or apartment, have you looked ahead to when you might want to consider a senior living option? Do you have any idea what those options might be? How much they cost? What they provide? UMRA’s May 14 workshop will provide an overview of the world of senior living and the basic information you need.
You’re invited to join the final Family History Interest Group meeting for 2023–24. This will be an opportunity to ask questions related to family history, share insights, talk about recent projects, and suggest topics for next year.
Stephanie Daily will lead the discussion of Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law by best-selling author Mary Roach when the UMRA Book Club meets via Zoom at 2 p.m. on Friday, May 17.
The May 20 hike will start at the Historic Lift Bridge in Stillwater and go along the river to the new bridge, cross over and then back on the Wisconsin side, a total of approximately 5 miles. Most of the route is paved. We will eat lunch after at Brian's Bar and Grill in Stillwater. Car pooling will be available.
Climatologist and meteorologist Mark Seeley joined the U of M faculty in 1978 and has been a weekly commentator on Minnesota Public Radio since 1992. We are honored to welcome him as our guest speaker for UMRA’s May Luncheon Forum and 2024 Annual Meeting. He is always entertaining and informative.
UMRA’s Fourth Friday Book Club welcomes back, for the second time, author Julie Schumacher, U of M Regents professor of creative writing and English, for a conversation about her novel The Shakespeare Requirement.
We are in for a treat on June 3! Lynn Anderson, will lead us on trails at two parks near her Monticello home. Bring a bag lunch and we will gather in Lynn's yard along the Mississippi River for eating and socializing after the hike.
Get out to the ballpark with fellow UMRA members for the annual U of M Day at Target Field as the Minnesota Twins take on the Oakland Athletics on June 14 at 7:10 p.m.
Please join us at 9:30 on June 17, 2024 for a walk around Lake Como in St. Paul before attending the UMRA Summer Social and Picnic starting at 11 at the Como Pavilion. A perfect opportunity to get in a walk before we gather to celebrate summer.
Picnic under the covered, open-air Como pavilion, gaze at the water, spy some birds, catch up with friends and former colleagues, and meet new members. We’ll have lunch with plenty of time for visiting and then compete in teams as we are challenged by our Quiz master(s)!
Healthy aging, mindfulness, fighting ageism, and more will be the focus of the third annual Age-Friendly University Day to be held on the U of M Twin Cities campus.