The Urban History Seminar series feature a scholarly presentation followed by lively discussion. LaDale Winling of Virginia Tech and Maura Fennelly of Northwestern University present “The Chicago Covenants Project: Excavating the Documents of Exclusion.”

The Chicago Covenants Project is a volunteer-driven research effort to identify every racially restrictive covenant in Cook County. Fennelly and Winling will detail the collaborative research process to find covenants in the millions of analogue real estate documents held by the county clerk. They will also share some of their findings, from mapping the widespread use of covenants to detailing the forms of legal resistance to covenants offered by African Americans.

This in-person session is free of charge and includes complimentary coffee and tea. We would greatly appreciate a donation to the Museum in any amount. 

The Urban History Seminars have been generously underwritten by the Chicago History Museum since 1983.