Join with other Columbia Alumni to learn more about the Mapping Prejudice project from the University of Minnesota and particpate in a work session, helping transcribe and map covenants

The project aims to build community awareness about housing injustice, Mapping Prejudice is mobilizing volunteers to document racial covenants. Racial covenants were legal clauses embedded in property deeds that barred people who were not white from buying or occupying land. Elders have known for decades that covenants were widespread. But even with that community wisdom, there is a lot that we don’t know.

How common were these restrictions? What areas of our community were reserved for white people only? How much land was restricted in this way? When were they put into place? What did they say? What are the legacies of these practices today?

Help us make a map that can answer these questions. As we do this research together, we will explore the connections between past injustices and present disparities. This is the first step towards meaningful change.

Mapping Prejudice is currently featuring the work of our collaborators in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. We are excited to embark on this new phase of our project, and we hope that you will join us. This online training session will teach you what you need to know to contribute to this project.

About 15 minutes before your work session begins, look for a Zoom meeting code from Columbia in the email you used to RSVP

Once you join the Zoom session:

• Make sure you have a screen large enough to view historical property deeds and a keyboard that will allow you to enter information into a Zooniverse work page
• Listen to a short introduction and get registered with Zooniverse
• Watch the session leader demonstrate how to read a property deed and answer questions on the Mapping Prejudice Zooniverse page
• Work independently with other volunteers, asking for guidance as needed

If you are not familiar with racial covenants, you may find it helpful to watch “Jim Crow of the North”

This one hour documentary uses the history of racial covenants in Minneapolis to explore the complex history of discriminatory housing policies and their contemporary legacies. This Emmy award-winning film explains why mapping racial covenants is so important.