PURPOSE
Dane County, WI is undertaking a mapping and public engagement process to identify and confirm restrictive language in real estate records and work towards structural and distributional equity.[1]
STATUS
In the 2022 pilot, County staff and volunteers searched digitized records from 1937-1969. In subsequent years staff searched digitized records from 1900-1937 and identified land records that might have racial restrictions on them. County staff and a Boys and Girls Club intern reviewed and mapped each document if common restrictive “key words” were flagged. This DOCUMENT provides more information on the methodology used. Findings are in this INTERACTIVE MAP.
So far, the tally stands at 1,000+ land records that have been found and mapped. Broken down by decade they are 1960’s – 5, 1950’s – 28, 1940’s – 285, 1930’s – 323, 1920’s – 375, 1910’s - 15, 1900's - 0.
BACKGROUND
Racial covenants were a wide spread tool for preventing property sales to people of particular descent up through the early and mid-1900’s. In 1917, the US Supreme Court invalidated racial zoning, causing the use of restrictive covenants to proliferate as an exclusionary tool. While racially restrictive covenants include language targeting many racial, religious, and ethnic groups, they especially targeted Black people during the Great Migration (1910-40), when millions moved North and West to seek new opportunities.
In 1948, the Supreme Court made covenants unenforceable by public law in Shelley v Kraemer. Twenty years later, the Fair Housing policy in the Civil Rights Act of 1968 prohibited discrimination concerning housing sale, rental, and financing based on race, religion, national origin, sex, (and as amended) handicap, and family status. However, despite no longer being enforceable by law, covenants are still in land deeds and could be implemented via private action.
Mapping Prejudice in Seattle Washington is one of the first efforts to chronical these documents. The University of Minnesota’s Mapping Prejudice Project researched, validated, and seeks to discharge these restrictive records for Hennepin County, Minnesota. Similar work is also underway in Milwaukee, and several other regions of the nation. Inspired by these efforts, Dane County Planning and Development (P&D), Office of Equity and Inclusion, and the Dane County Boys and Girls Club (BGC) conducted a pilot study to identify and analyze records from 1937-1969 in June 2022 and subsequently expanded to 1900-1937.
On March 22, 2024, Governor Evers signed the 2023 Wisconsin ACT 210 [59.43 (9) (d) and 710.25] declaring discriminatory restrictions in instruments that affect real property void and unenforceable and allowing an owner of real property to discharge and release such a discriminatory restriction.
NEXT STEPS
Dane County leaders and staff are engaging stakeholders across the region to develop, facilitate, and convene the community at large and to recognize and remedy this history.
Timeline
Milestone 1 |Winter 2023: Complete pilot project to digitally process plat maps, covenants, and restrictions, and all recorded documents for the years 1937-1969. Complete
Milestone 2| Summer-Dec 2024: Outreach to stakeholder and potential partners.
Milestone 3| Jan 2025: 330,000 records digitized and searched for keywords, all recorded documents for the years 1900-1969. Complete
Milestone 4| March 2025: Advisory Committee Formation and meet.
Milestone 5| Summer 2025: Focus Groups on Community Outreach.
Milestone 6| 2026: Draft Report & Recommendations for policy and action.
Milestone 7| Summer 2026: Complete publicly accessible digital resources, and in-person materials, and outreach events.
Milestone 8-n| Fall 2026: Restorative Actions and Policies are implemented.
[1] Catenacci, S. PAS QuickNotes. ISSN 2169-1940. American Planning Association. 5 June 2024. Chicago, IL 60601-5927
