A Shelley Day celebration is scheduled for 6 to 8 p.m. on Friday, May 3 at Sanborn Park, Robbinsdale.
What is Shelley Day? It commemorates the day May 3, 1948, when the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that individuals could no longer use the courts to keep people of color from living in neighborhoods because of their race. Previously, phrases in property deeds, known as racial covenants, could be added to target people of color, and the courts would enforce them. A deed with a racial covenant is known as a racially restrictive deed. Black people were usually the target of these racial covenants, though many of them declared that only Caucasian people could purchase, mortgage, lease or occupy the property.
Organizations such as Just Deeds, Free the Deeds, Mapping Prejudice and the Robbinsdale Historical Society will teach people about the history of racially restrictive deeds both throughout the metro and Robbinsdale specifically. The Sanborn family, which the park was named after, added racially restrictive deeds to many properties in Robbinsdale.
Metro State University Professor Raj Sethuraju will lead restorative circle trainings, where people can share their perspectives and better understand how to talk about racism.