Racial Restrictive Covenants - Washington State

The language of segregation haunts the cities and suburbs of Washington State. Racist restrictions, although now illegal, remain in the deeds and other property records of hundreds of neighborhoods, a toxic residue from the decades when racial segregation and exclusion was allowed, indeed promoted, by local governments throughout the state. Racial deed restrictions became common after 1926 when the U.S. Supreme Court validated their use. The restrictions were an enforceable contract and an owner who violated them risked forfeiting the property. Many neighborhoods prohibited the sale or rental of property to Asian Americans and Jews as well as Blacks.

Authorized by the state legislature under SHB 1335, this project is charged with identifying and mapping neighborhoods covered by racist deed provisions and restrictive covenants. To date the project has found documents covering about 20,000 properties in King County.

The Washington Racial Covenants Project involves two teams of researchers at the University of Washington and Eastern Washington University. We are working to identify and map racial restrictions buried in property records. These restrictions, known as racial covenants or racially-restrictive deeds, were used in every American community before 1968 to prevent people who were not white from buying or occupying property. Property owners and developers used racial covenants to create highly segregated cities that reserved areas seen as desirable for white people.

Housing provides a foundation for human wellness, determining health, safety, access to education, and family wealth. Racist housing policies have driven the growth of the racial wealth gap and a raft of other racial disparities in the United States.

PLEASE HELP. Digital technologies make it possible to survey millions of property records at lightning speed. But we need humans to generate the clean, verified data necessary for this historical reckoning. Volunteers are joining the teams of students and faculty to verify and transcribe racist restrictions. Thanks to the assistance of the Mapping Prejudice Project at the University of Minnesota and their Zooniverse tool, the process is simple. You transcribe racial covenants from historic property records, we map the results.

DONATIONS. Financial contributions help the project keep going. Make tax-free donations to "UW Foundation - Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project." Please mention "History Department."