New research leads to West Lafayette apology for past racial covenants

New exhibit shows just how prevalent covenants of 1920-50s were, keeping all but ‘pure white Caucasian race’ out of West Lafayette neighborhoods. And the wording lives on in property deeds

On Tuesday, West Lafayette Mayor Erin Easter stood on the steps of the Grandview Cemetery Caretaker’s Cottage – home of West Lafayette Public Library’s history center and a new display of fresh research into how prominent neighborhoods in the city developed from the 1920s into the 1950s with blatant bans on Black home ownership – and formally acknowledged and apologized for the city’s hand in it.

“Whether we apologize for it today or not doesn’t take away that it happened,” Easter said after delivering a statement that denounced racially driven property covenants – and how city officials signed off on them – meant to keep neighborhoods in large sections of the city for “members of the pure white Caucasian race.”

“Recognizing that this was a historical practice and an issue, that's not any surprise to people, especially in housing policy,” Easter said. “There's been a lot of data about that. … Sometimes, when you take ownership for something and you apologize and recognize it, it leads to a point where you can have a conversation about it instead of being defensive or just not talking about it. That’s where this is coming from today.”

A binder of subdivision plats show where racially restrictive covenants barred anyone but members of the ‘pure white Caucasian race’ from West Lafayette neighborhoods. (Photo: Dave Bangert)

Among those in the crowd Tuesday, Paula Davis was all hugs, handing out flowers for the occasion. Davis had been among teams of people who played a role in searching plat books for racially restrictive covenants, vetting research and organizing the findings into an exhibit that will run at the library’s Caretaker’s Cottage into November 2025.

“This is a historic and momentous occasion,” Davis, owner of Blooms & Petals Fresh Flowers & Events in downtown Lafayette and founder of the local Black Chamber of Commerce, said.

“First the discovery and the research of the racial covenants concerning real estate that ran in our area, and then strong proactive action by city government to make a stand against this injustice,” Davis said. “West Lafayette can be seen as a beacon and example to other communities about what they should be and indeed, must be doing. … So proud of you.”

The apology nearly a century in the making was the culmination of a 3½-year project started by a group called Racial Reconciliation of Greater Lafayette.