A racially restricted ad for homes in Minneapolis, from 1919.

I’m back with another streets.mn podcast and it’s a good one. I sat down a few weeks ago with the team from Mapping Prejudice, a groundbreaking historical research effort to shed light on the racist history of housing practices in Minneapolis. Joining me around the table in the basement of the Borchert Map Library were three people who’ve been in the think of this untold story, Kirsten Delegard, Penny Peterson, and Kevin Ehrman-Solberg. Together they have been researching dusty old deeds from deep in the bowels of Hennepin County history, and mapping those deeds that have “racially restrictive covenants” so that you can see where these were located.

Racially restrictive covenants are one of a series of historically troubling practices that was widespread during the 20th century. Basically, for decades, it was written right into the mortgage that a home owner could not sell their house to a person of color.

I hope you enjoy the episode.

The podcast is sponsored by Nate Pentz, so thanks to him!

Nate Pentz is realtor with Pentz Homes at Keller Williams Classic Realty NW. You can start your own home search at pentzhomes.com and if you have any questions about the buying or selling process shoot him a message at nate@pentzhomes.co or call 612.308.1122.

The Mapping Prejudice team, looking at a Minneapolis redlining map.