Mapping Prejudice

Mapping Prejudice

In 2017, when we first conducted workshops for St. Kate’s, one or more participants would ask about Ramsey County. It was because of this questioning, and desire to better understand “St. Kate’s own backyard” that an interdisciplinary group of faculty and staff began looking into how St. Kate’s could be more involved in this effort. In December 2019, the St. Kate’s team and Mapping Prejudice staff met with them to discuss the how tos of this coming to fruition.

In 2019 Ramsey County worked with a third party vendor to digitize the many housing deeds and in December 2019, the first batch of deeds was dispatched to Mapping Prejudice. By February 2020, community members could begin transcribing the deeds through the Zooniverse platform. We expected it would take 3 years to complete the reviews of the Ramsey County deeds, but then everything changed in the spring of 2020.

The COVID-19 global pandemic sent everyone home under the governor’s stay at home order, leaving people looking for online projects. Then on May 25, 2020, George Floyd was murdered by Minneapolis police officers, starting protests around the world and causing many people to focus on issues of systemic racism. Mapping Prejudice was flooded with volunteers and anticipates that the transcription work in Ramsey County can be completed by the end of 2020.

We continue to provide workshops and events, as partners, until our mission is completed. Visit their website to learn more.