Interactive map will help community explore the lasting impacts of discriminatory housing practices
After nearly three years, the work to uncover and catalog historic racially restrictive covenants is now complete. The Wake County Register of Deeds has launched a new searchable, interactive map documenting racially restrictive covenants historically embedded in property records across the county, providing residents, researchers and historians with a powerful new tool to explore the community’s past.
Since 2023, volunteers with the Racially Restrictive Covenants Project worked to catalog discriminatory language found in historic deeds and subdivision records dating from 1900 to approximately 1950. These covenants imposed racial restrictions on who could buy, own or occupy certain properties in Wake County.
Through the new map, users can search addresses, explore neighborhoods and read associated historic deeds that contain racially restrictive language.
“This project helps tell a fuller story about Wake County’s history,” said Tammy Brunner, Wake County Register of Deeds. “By making these records publicly accessible, we hope to foster awareness and understanding about how discriminatory housing practices shaped our community and continue to influence it today.”
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 14,500 deeds containing racially restrictive covenants were identified.
Led by Raleigh residents Lisa Boccetti and Robert Williams, nearly 200 volunteers contributed an estimated 10,000 hours reviewing, indexing and mapping records.
“This was truly a community-driven effort,” said Brunner. “The response from volunteers demonstrates a strong desire to better understand the historical forces that shaped Wake County and to ensure that history is not forgotten. I’m incredibly grateful to Lisa, Bob and the entire team for rolling up their sleeves and doing this hard, yet deeply important, work.”
Beyond documenting discriminatory practices, the project also offers insight into broader moments in local history, including the Great Depression, World War I, World War II and Wake County’s rapid growth during the early 20th century.
Early mapping analysis also reveals patterns that continue to resonate today. Preliminary findings suggest that neighborhoods historically impacted by racially restrictive covenants often align with present-day areas facing lower income levels, reduced access to services and fewer opportunities for generational wealth accumulation.
The Register of Deeds office documented its methodology so that other communities interested in similar projects can replicate the process.
