Monday, December 4, 2023

Lake of the Isles (Wita Tomna) Minneapolis Racial Covenant housing law directly inspired by 1705 Virginia Slave law (as national trend)

 I grew up next to Lake of the Isles in the first house planned for the lake (built in 1887) and I discovered this racial covenant language for property next to the lakes - and I sent it to the University Mapping Prejudice project! Glad they built on this connection! thanks

 http://www2.vcdh.virginia.edu/gos/laws1700-1750.html

October 1705-CHAP. XXII. An act declaring the Negro, Mulatto, and Indian slaves within this dominion, to be real estate.

I. FOR the better settling and preservation of estates within this dominion,

II. Be it enacted, by the governor, council and burgesses of this present general assembly, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That from and after the passing of this act, all negro, mulatto, and Indian slaves, in all courts of judicature, and other places, within this dominion, shall be held, taken, and adjudged, to be real estate (and not chattels;) and shall descend unto the heirs and widows of persons departing this life, according to the manner and custom of land of inheritance, held in fee simple.

 An act declaring the Negro, Mulatto, and Indian slaves within this dominion, to be real estate, 1705
Another law of 1705 defined all slaves in Virginia as property.
https://www.hhh.umn.edu/news/humphrey-school-study-discriminatory-housing-policies-created-unequal-park-system-minneapolis

 A 1919 newspaper ad describing racial restrictions on the sale of property in Minneapolis

 notice the listing of ethnicity and the same "descent" and "descend" wording!!

 For example, the National Association of Real Estate Boards’ 1924 code of ethics stated that “a realtor should never be instrumental in introducing into a neighborhood a character of property or occupancy, members of any race or nationality, or any individuals whose presence will clearly be detrimental to the property value in that neighborhood.”

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/24694452.2022.2155606?src=&journalCode=raag21

 Rebecca Walker presents the report findings - youtube

 https://jbhe.com/2023/06/study-examines-how-race-played-a-major-factor-in-the-creation-of-the-minneapolis-park-system/

 The result: during the 45 years from 1910 to 1955 when covenants were used in Minneapolis, 73 percent of new park areas had at least one racial covenant within one block of the park.

https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/densecitypod/episodes/22-Making-the-City-of-Lakes-Whiteness--Nature--and-Urban-Development-in-Minneapolis-e1vvpnd 

 https://phys.org/news/2023-03-discriminatory-housing-policies-unequal-minneapolis.html

 In Minneapolis, the first racially-restrictive deed appeared in 1910, when Henry and Leonora Scott sold a property on 35th Avenue South to Nels Anderson. The deed conveyed in that transaction contained what would become a common restriction, stipulating that the “premises shall not at any time be conveyed, mortgaged or leased to any person or persons of Chinese, Japanese, Moorish, Turkish, Negro, Mongolian or African blood or descent.”

 https://pressbooks.umn.edu/mappingprejudicecurriculum/chapter/what-is-a-racial-covenant/

 https://streets.mn/2016/12/14/exclusionary-zoning-the-new-redlining/

 In the 1930s, Hennepin Avenue in Uptown Minneapolis was a redlining boundary. Banks were instructed to give loans to people who wanted to live west of Hennepin, but the neighborhoods just east of Hennepin were labeled “definitely declining” and people who wanted to buy a home or renovate one were systematically denied loans.

 https://dsl.richmond.edu/panorama/redlining/#loc=13/44.971/-93.316&city=minneapolis-mn

 https://www.minneapolisparks.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Chapter-2-MPRB-Plan-for-Cedar-Lake-and-Lake-of-the-Isles.pdf

 One of the Dakota names for Lake of the Isles, Wita Tomna, means
four islands lake.

 

 Wow - there's the two sunken islands!!

The road around Lake of the Isles was built AFTER OUR HOUSE WAS ALREADY BUILT!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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