Ever wonder why communities like Germantown have been predominantly white for decades?

In partnership with Bay Bridge, GCC is proud to welcome UW-Milwaukee professors Anne Bonds and Derek G. Handley for a presentation and discussion about racial covenants and Black resistance.

Racial covenants were a widely used tool to racially segregate housing and communities in the first half of the twentieth century. For nearly three years, Bonds and Handley have been working together with thousands of community members to read and transcribe racial covenants in property records in order to map these covenants and understand their geography and impact in Milwaukee County’s racially segregated landscape. At this same time, they’ve researched how Black activists and their allies sought to challenge and resist racial covenants in their struggle for access to decent, affordable housing.

Racial covenants and other restrictions such as red-lining have greatly influenced the demographic make-up of the suburbs in the surrounding counties of Waukesha, Washington, and Ozaukee. It was not accidental that communities like Germantown were nearly all white for decades. This is a great opportunity to learn, reflect, and live the GCC mission of building a more inclusive community for all. Register today!

Please note: While this event is being held at the American Legion, it is not endorsed by the American Legion.