“In Chicago, They’ve Got Covenants” By Daniel Greene
Newberry building, 1943.
Like much of the nation, Chicago is reckoning with long-standing racial inequality. Since the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and many, many others, we’ve witnessed protests in the streets, including in the immediate neighborhood around the Newberry. Violent unrest in nearby Kenosha, Wisconsin, followed the police shooting there of Jacob Blake, who was raised in Evanston. These protests are more than a reaction to recent incidents of police violence; they are a response to the systemic racism that has plagued the United States for centuries. This racism has been enforced by law, discriminatory practices, and horrific violence. 20
Fall/Winter 2020
At the Newberry, we believe deeply that historical context should inform how we respond to contemporary crises. This includes examining the library’s own history and investigating institutional complicity in structural racism. Confronting this painful history, we hope, will help us build a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive Newberry. With this aspiration in mind, this article looks at the Newberry’s signing of restrictive covenants for properties it owned during the 1930s and 1940s.
