Unjust Deeds: The History of Racial Covenants in Dane County with Dane County Historical Society

Throughout Black History Month, a banner-based exhibit will be placed throughout Madison Central Library. Fourteen pop-up banners have been traveling through libraries all over Dane County for the past year and will come to the Central Library as part of its programming for Black History Month.

The banners feature the history of racial covenants used as tools for segregation. It showcases covenants placed into property deeds to prevent non-Whites and non-Christians from buying or occupying land. While those covenants are no longer enforceable, the Dane County Historical Society researched them to find that they still very much so can be found in almost every single community throughout the United States — including Dane County.

Historical Presentation

For most of the 20th century, racial covenants were an insidious tool used nationwide to segregate whites from Blacks and other minorities in America's burgeoning suburbs and residential neighborhoods. Racial covenants were clauses inserted into property deeds to prevent non-Whites and non-Christians from buying or occupying land. Although no longer valid or enforceable, they can still be found in the land deeds of almost every American community, including Dane County.

Racial covenants were made illegal with the passage of the Fair Housing Act in 1968. Nevertheless, their impacts are pervasive and still with us today. This program, presented by local historian Rick Bernstein, will explore the history of racial covenants in Dane County and nationwide. Throughout the month of February, you can also learn about this through the traveling exhibit which you can view at the Central Library.

More about the Presenter: Rick Bernstein, a graduate of Cornell University's Historic Preservation Planning program, worked for nearly 30 years for the Wisconsin Historical Society's Division of Historic Preservation and Local History until he retired in 2019. Since then, Rick has worked part-time as the Dane County Historical Society's Executive Director. DCHS was established in 1961 to promote Dane County's history and to manage an archival facility at the Lussier Family Heritage Center in Lake Farm Park.

This program is made possible thanks to support from Beyond the Page, National Endowment for the Humanities, Madison Community Foundation, the Evjue Foundation, Dane Arts, and Dane County Department of Planning & Development.