Does Your Property Deed Have a ‘Racism Clause’ on It? [MAP]

Yikes! This is a wild story.

A research project out of Spokane has discovered that thousands of property deeds in the state of Washington have an old (and racist) clause in them that forbid homeowners from selling to people who aren't White.

See, I told you this is a wild story!

'REDLINING' IN AMERICA DEFINITELY HAD A PRESENCE IN WASHINGTON STATE

The racism clause was discovered by researchers at EWU and UW. They found at least 20 Washington state counties that contained what they call "racial covenants" on property deeds.¹

Back in the day, there was a big effort in America to prevent non-White people from living in certain neighborhoods and cities. This was called redlining. Heck, even the state of Oregon wouldn't allow Black people to move there during the mid-to-late 1800s.

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SUNDOWN TOWNS IN EASTERN WASHINGTON

During the late 1800s and early 1900s, as Washington was quickly filling up with pioneers and others looking for land and a new place to live and thrive, Black, Hispanic, and Asians had a difficult time finding homes and properties to buy. From the 1920s thru the 1960s, real estate agents collaborated with homeowners and local government officials to prevent their neighborhoods from allowing others to move in, and by others, I mean people who weren't "White."

Some towns turned violent towards these folks when the sun went down, and we call those "sundown towns." (The Mischa Green-produced HBO show, Lovecraft Country, dealt with this topic, with an H.P. Lovecraft twist.)

Several of these sundown towns were in eastern Washington, so I would not be surprised if researchers end up discovering more racist relic property deeds in other Washington counties.

These are the Eastern Washington towns that were identified by many travelers as having been Sundown Towns back in the day²

• Brewster

• Chelan

• Colville

• Kennewick

• Richland

• Walla Walla

HAVE YOU HEARD OF THE GREEN BOOK?

This reminds me, I have a copy at home somewhere of an old pamphlet you may have heard about featured in the acclaimed movie, Green Book. Unfortunately, the movie primarily focused on the driver escort as opposed to the person being driven around, but we still get the point: it wasn't safe for racial "minorities" in some towns, even here in Washington.

It got so bad during this era that Victor H. Green had the forethought to put together a little book that listed safe places and cities for minorities to eat and find motels.

Green Book, the movie, won Oscars for Best Picture (produced by Jim Burke, Charles B. Wessler, Brian Hayes Currie, Peter Farrelly, and Nick Vallelonga), Best Supporting Actor (Mahersala Ali), and Best Original Screenplay (Nick Vallelonga, Brian Hayes Currie, and Peter Farrelly).

WILL YOU FIND YOUR HOME ON THIS PROPERTY MAP?

Over 7,000 properties in Spokane County were found to have a racial covenant clause in the deed. You can use this interactive map to see if your home is on the list, developed by the Eastern Washington University historical research team.

¹ In 2022, the Washington state legislature asked the researchers to identify these properties so homeowners can legally remove the racial restrictions from the deeds.

² You can see a full list here of the Sundown Towns that were in Washington State.