Racial covenants are clauses that were inserted into property deeds to prevent people who were not white from buying or occupying land. These covenants served as legally enforceable contracts. The real estate industry, developers, park commissioners, local, state, and federal governments played significant roles in implementing racial covenants. Although this practice is now illegal, the language remains on many property titles and can still be damaging.

In Minnesota, there have been thousands of racial covenants on property titles in Hennepin and Ramsey County alone. However, they are still prevalent in greater MN as well. In 2019, Governor Tim Walz signed into law legislation to enable Minnesota homeowners an opportunity to remove racial covenants from their home titles.

Organizations that can help:

  • Mapping Prejudice identifies and maps racial covenants. They can help you find out if you have a racial covenant on your property title.
  • Just Deeds provide free legal and title services to help property owners find covenants and discharge them from their property titles.

Other resources: