Abstract: Much research on the urban racial politics of redistricting focus on the period of the “redistricting revolution” after 1965. This study takes a more historical approach to this topic by asking: how have select communities within cities managed to avoid ever being redistricted from their founding in the 19th century to the present? Using digitized ward boundaries from Chicago and Milwaukee from their founding to the present, we discovered the importance of the legacy of settler colonialism for answering this question. Specifically, logics of settler colonialism have protected select communities in Chicago and Milwaukee from ever being redistricted through three mechanisms: 1) settlement formation, 2) state law protection, and 3) litigation protection. We conclude by discussing the implications for studying the urban racial politics of redistricting.
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