This video shows the spread of racial covenants across Wake County by year:
NOW LIVE: Searchable, interactive map documenting racially restrictive covenants across Wake County.
Search addresses, explore neighborhoods and read associated historic deeds that contain racially restrictive language.
The project represents years of research and collaboration between the Wake County Register of Deeds Office and community volunteers. Using Optical Character Recognition technology, volunteers scanned and searched approximately 600,000 pages of archived records. From that effort, approximately 15,000 deeds containing racially restrictive covenants were identified.
Use the links below to learn more about the history of the project, watch the March 2025 presentation to the Board of Commissioners and explore the resources used throughout the project.
Oldest covenant on file
This covenant from 1906 is the oldest on file with the Wake County Register of Deeds.
Raleigh and Wake County View of Area Covered by Covenants in 1950
Click the images below to view expanded maps of Raleigh and the overall Wake County view of the area covered by covenants in 1950.
