Race & Demographics

The Wake County Register of Deeds wants help searching for racist housing covenants

WUNC | By Sharryse Piggott

Published October 13, 2023 at 3:44 PM EDT

In this Saturday, July 17, 2021, photo, a copy of a covenant for property now owned by Fred Ware is seen in Manchester, Conn. Fred and Dave Ware recently found a whites-only covenant on his property dating back to 1942 when researching the title chain. The covenant described as letter "F" states that "No persons of any race other than the white race shall use or occupy any building or any lot, except that this covenant shall not prevent occupancy by domestic servants of a different race domiciled with an owner tenant." (AP Photo/Jessica Hill) — In this Saturday, July 17, 2021, photo, a copy of a covenant for property now owned by Fred Ware is seen in Manchester, Conn. Fred and Dave Ware recently found a whites-only covenant on his property dating back to 1942 when researching the title chain. The covenant described as letter "F" states that "No persons of any race other than the white race shall use or occupy any building or any lot, except that this covenant shall not prevent occupancy by domestic servants of a different race domiciled with an owner tenant."

The Wake County Register of Deeds Office is seeking volunteers for a project to help find and archive racially restrictive covenants.

The project aims to develop a searchable and interactive map of historical and racial restrictions that prevented largely African Americans, as well as people of other ethnic and minority groups, from buying or living on certain land in Wake County. Volunteers would examine online books dating back to 1920.

"Sadly, these racially restrictive covenants can be found on the books in nearly every county and city in the nation, so Wake County is not unique," Wake County Register of Deeds Tammy Brunner said in a press release.

Brunner said there is certain language to look for on the property deeds, such as “will be occupied exclusively by person or persons...of the Caucasian Race,” or “shall ever be sold, resold, conveyed, granted, devised, leased or rented to or occupied by, or in any other way used by, any person or persons not of the Caucasian Race.”

The 1948 U.S. Supreme Court case Shelley v. Kraemer ruled that racially restrictive covenants are unenforceable, and they were also outlawed by the 1968 Fair Housing Act.

“Still, a lot of people don't know about them, and many are shocked when they learn their property or the neighborhood HOA where they live still includes such racial restrictions," Brunner added. "We hope this project can help catalog these forgotten artifacts of the past and serve as a tool for those seeking to educate and raise awareness of how these covenants influenced where people settled, how our present neighborhoods evolved and how we might help better shape the future of our community as it continues to grow."

The Wake County Register of Deeds Office also worked with Shaw University on a project in 2021 to search through more than 30 deed books for bills of sale and property exchanges of enslaved people. The documents were cataloged, transcribed and made public through an online portal.

People who want to volunteer can register online at the Wake County Register of Deeds' website, under the page for the Racially Restrictive Covenants Project.

WUNC's Eli Chen also contributed to this story.