{"id":6637,"date":"2025-07-10T08:41:49","date_gmt":"2025-07-10T12:41:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.deeds.com\/articles\/?p=6637"},"modified":"2025-07-10T08:41:50","modified_gmt":"2025-07-10T12:41:50","slug":"dane-county-wisconsin-event-helps-deed-holders-delete-racial-covenants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.deeds.com\/articles\/dane-county-wisconsin-event-helps-deed-holders-delete-racial-covenants\/","title":{"rendered":"Dane County, Wisconsin Event Helps Deed Holders Delete Racial Covenants"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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In June, a two-and-a-half-hour event took place at the Alliant Energy Center Exhibition Hall in Madison. The goal? To deal with harmful, racially motivated deed restrictions<\/a>. Local leaders showed up \u2014 and led. Title professionals came to help deed holders fill out and record the document called \u201cDischarge and Release of Discriminatory Restriction Affecting Real Property.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dane County Executive Melissa Agard had discovered a racial restriction written into her own deed. She stepped up to host the \u201cPrejudice in Places\u201d event, where she became the first to complete Wisconsin\u2019s new form to confront exclusionary deed language.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

When Deeds Were Tools to Exclude<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Hundreds of people in Dane County alone have deeds on record that contain race-based exclusions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throughout the first half of the 20th<\/sup> century, discriminatory words were written, outright, on home deeds. The point? To exclude anyone considered nonwhite from acquiring deeds in the areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a big reason why, to this day, so many neighborhoods lack diversity. It\u2019s also a big reason why people who weren\u2019t perceived as white often could not live in places with desirable schools and valuable real estate to sell or pass down through the generations. The opportunity costs to nonwhite families were immense and lasting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These \u201cracial covenants\u201d can\u2019t be enforced today. They violate the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The U.S. Supreme Court said so in Shelley v. Kraemer<\/em> (1948). Although some of these deed restrictions were recorded anyway after the Supreme Court\u2019s decision, the Fair Housing Act of 1968 put a stop to them for good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And yet, even though these covenants have been outlawed, the harmful language remains. This is because deed covenants run with the land.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So the County is offering time and support for what it calls the \u201cmeaningful, restorative act\u201d of formally renouncing the prejudice written into deeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prejudice in Places: Event Planning<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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This important deed event was put together by the county Office of Equity & Inclusion and the Dane County Planning & Development Department. Also facilitating the project are the County Executive and Board of Supervisors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Employees of the county recorder\u2019s office are not permitted to fill in the new forms. Some residents might understandably want hands-on guidance. So the county invited deed holders to come to the June event with their IDs. The assistance was free of charge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also, thanks to a grant from the Wisconsin REALTORS\u00ae Foundation (the charity arm of the Wisconsin REALTORS\u00ae Association), a deed holder may have the recording fee waived for the new document.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dane County\u2019s Prejudice in Places<\/em> website was advertised in advance. Announcements included a link which residents could use to check their deed language. Real estate industry groups supported the creation of this online project. It includes an interactive map<\/a>. The mapping project contains the deed restrictions and has links to the actual language. Residents simply type in an address to begin retrieving information that applies to their homes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The recent event helped residents through the process for renouncing exclusionary language. (You can read the guide explaining the steps for deed holders to take here<\/a>. A sample Discharge and Release by Owner<\/em> form is included.) \u201cBe one of several hundred property owners to share in this significant collective action,\u201d said the county\u2019s announcement for the event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn removing these racist covenants, we are not erasing history,\u201d Agard stated. The covenants found by residents will not be erased from the chain of title. But the county will record the new documentation formally rejecting the repugnant language. In this way the county is \u201cwriting a new chapter\u201d based on fairness to all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The county already has a resolution on the books that formally commits Madison, Wisconsin to act on the harmful continuing impact of race-based deed restrictions. Now, Dane County leadership plans to follow up with public outreach and education. Already, the Prejudice in Places<\/em> website offers a wealth of information \u2014 not only about Wisconsin deed history, but on similar efforts in counties and states nationwide. Dane County is also working on making all its deeds digital and searchable.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dane County\u2019s Resolution: What\u2019s In It<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The form that people are recording follows the resolution set forth by Dane County. The resolution is called Repudiating Racial and Discriminatory Covenants in Madison Property Records.<\/em> You can see and hear the Dane County Board of Supervisors read the resolution aloud here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The resolution states:<\/p>\n\n\n\n