very difficult to get that done in time.
>> All right. Well, Barry Burden, thanks so much.
>> Thanks for having me. >> In other news, to
understand why Milwaukee ranks as one of the most
segregated big cities in America, two Wisconsin
based researchers have been taking a close look at
housing records and the racially charged language
in them. Here and now, reporter Murv Seymour shows
us how the Mapping, Racism and Resistance project
inches toward the finish line. Despite the recent
loss of federal funding, some viewers might find the
language in this story disturbing.
>> This project is incredible. It's important.
It is not historical. It is alive.
>> From a place known as the hub for learning.
>> And it needs to flourish so that we can continue to
push back against racism and segregation.
>> Something historic is happening at Milwaukee's
downtown public Library. >> It's one thing to say,
oh, there's systemic racism. It's another thing when you
see the language. >> It's jarring.
>> Whites only, Caucasians only colored people.
>> University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
professors Anne Bonds and Derek Handley have been
busy for nearly three years. >> These covenants cover
housing that is now predominantly occupied by
African Americans in Milwaukee.
>> The two have been leading an effort that
peels back the hateful history of racial covenants
in Milwaukee County, and has helped shape Milwaukee
along racial lines. Racial covenants a clause written
into property deeds that forbid the sale, least or
occupation of a property to a person because of their
race, ethnicity, or religion.
>> We have this deep history of racial
and I've been wanting to know more about it, and I
started digging into racial covenants.
students, you know, why do you think there are Black
communities in these different cities that you
go in? By seeing these maps, you can get a better
understanding to that question. A lot of
Milwaukee was part of or the Black population were
part of the Great Migration. They came here with hope.
There were certainly jobs over a period of time.
Black people knew what places they were not
supposed to be. >> After searching nearly 5
million documents from 1910 to 1960, the Mapping Racism
and Resistance Project found. Get this 32,506
racial covenants blended into the language of
housing deeds throughout Milwaukee County.
certain kinds of language words like whites only,
Caucasians only. We knew that terms like and colored
and African and Ethiopian would probably appear,
because that's the language that was being used at the
time. >> We've seen covenants
that mention no Italians. We've seen covenants that
mentioned no Mexicans. >> According to the
research, not every racial covenant explicitly said no
Blacks or no colored person. Some said white only or
Caucasian only. And bond says in practice, all of
the covenants they found targeted Black people. The
one exception Blacks could live in white only
communities if they were working there as a servant.
>> Derrick and I could never have identified all
of these racial covenants without the work with the
community. California, more than 6000
volunteers, many of whom transcribe their findings.
They used a site called Zooniverse to discover and
meticulously document racial covenants and the
language used in them. Mary Roberts says she became a
transcriber because of her passion for history.
>> You'd have one, two, three, four, five items of
things that you couldn't do on a property, and then all
of a sudden, there it was a racial covenant. It's one
thing to learn in your history books about how
segregation happened, or to read about the Fair Housing
Act and to read about the civil rights marches. But
it was really a whole nother experience to be
reading property deed after property deed after
property deed with these racial covenants in it.
>> Once found, each racial covenant is verified and
documented by five different people, word for
word, regardless of its racially discriminatory
tone. >> One person was so
offended by the language that was used in the
covenants that they didn't want to transcribe that
language. >> Some of these are like a
they're they're a sucker punch. People find these,
and the general reaction is, whoa, like, I don't I don't
want this. I don't want to be associated with this.
And and for many people of color, they encounter these.
It's very devastating to think about living in a
place that was constructed through this kind of racial
exclusion. has always been known
within the Black community. And now we have the
evidence to show people. >> Racial covenants
prevented access to the best and most well
resourced neighborhoods. >> We learned the story of
the Columbia Savings and Loan.
>> What did this bank near North Avenue? The 16th
Street Bridge on the south side, a historic landmark
to the north, and a 1950s Wauwatosa home to the west,
all have in common. >> The founding of that
institution was because of racist housing covenants.
>> They represent examples of resistance in the
Mapping, Racism and Resistance project, located
in the heart of what's known as the Bronzeville
community on fond du Lac Avenue, this Columbia
Savings and Loan bank rescued Black families by
offering mortgages at a time when white owned banks
wouldn't. More than 100 years later, from a new
building, the bank remains in business. Today, it's
Wisconsin's only Black owned bank. This historic
landmark celebrates Boniface and its fearless
priest, Father James Groppi. Groppi once led nonviolent
civil rights marches for 200 straight days across
the 16th Street Bridge, which at the time was
considered an imaginary racial boundary between the
predominantly Black north side of Milwaukee and the
then predominantly white south side of town. And
when you think of Wauwatosa, Derek Handley says.
>> Think about Zeddie Hyler and his brothers sitting at
night with shotguns. >> Zeddie Hyler migrated
from Mississippi to worked at Milwaukee's
downtown post office. In 1955, he became the first
Black property owner in Wauwatosa.
just a very stark reminder of what was going on during
the day. sharing a tiny piece of the
story of his. Against all odds journey to build his
dream home in Wauwatosa. >> He was very ambitious. I
have photos of him, and he's posing with an all
white contingent of privates, and he's the
sergeant. >> Mr. Hyler and his
brothers was would sit out there with shotguns in the
evening to protect the property from being from
being vandalized. This is Kern at the same time as
the Montgomery Bus Boycott in Alabama.
>> Lora Hyler tells this audience uncle Z was able
to build his dream home in Wauwatosa thanks to
multicultural resistance. The home is now considered
an historic landmark. >> There were 37 or 39
white women in the city of Wauwatosa who were upset
with the treatment that he was receiving, showing up
for the meetings, getting denied, and they basically
pulled together a petition, which all of them signed.
>> And he had his white friend buy the property.
And then after the white friend bought the property,
he then sold it to to Z. >> And they said, given the
Bill of rights, this man has a right to live any
place that he can afford to. So we demand that his
approval be granted. >> Haley Anne Bonds say the
history and impact of racial covenants in
Milwaukee is only part of the story of segregation in
Milwaukee. The site is still being tweaked, but
they encourage people to interact with the Mapping,
Racism and Resistance website to learn about
racial covenants in their community.
>> You can zoom into neighborhoods, and you can
look to see where the racial covenants were and
what the language was, the year that they were
implemented. We can get rid of these in our records,
but that doesn't mean that they haven't already done
the job that they were meant to do.
>> To help set the record straight, while helping fix
housing failures of the past, Anne Bonds says
Wisconsinites should pay close attention to what's
happening in Washington state, which has done
similar research. >> There's a new state law
that allowed people to, you know, actually pay to have
these records removed and the funds that were raised
through that removal process that were then
reinvested in a fund for first time home buyers.
>> There's a lot of generational wealth that
was that, that one whole segment of our society was
cut off from building. We really have to to face that
if we're going to try and if we're going to try and