Facing the past
Sociocultural Anthropologist and Racial Covenants Project Director Dr. Tara Kelly of Eastern Washington University and Research Associate Colton Schons look over historical records of property in Eastern Washington as part of their work on the project which seeks to identify where race restrictions would have prevented minorities and others from purchasing homes in certain neighborhoods.
COURTESY PHOTO/EWU
When these home sites were platted on Rose Street in Moses Lake in 1949, they were covered by a neighborhood covenant making it illegal to sell them to “persons other than of the Caucasian race.” A special project by the University of Washington and Eastern Washington University is searching records statewide to identify properties carrying such racially restrictive provisions.
This 1947 deed for a property in Soap Lake specifies that the buyer may not sell the property to any member of a racial minority. The Supreme Court would make such covenants unenforceable that same year, but the documents remain part of the official record. (Note: The original image contained white text on a black background. It has been modified for legibility.)
The 1949 plat map for the neighborhood around the Ritzville Golf Course includes the provision “No deed shall be issued to other than the white race, and the assignment of subsequent deeds by any person to any other person other than the white race is likewise restricted.” This is the only property in Adams county that carries a racially restrictive covenant, according to the Racial Covenants Project at Eastern Washington University.
This 1947 deed for a property in Electric City has the racial restrictions crossed out. (Note: The original image contained white text on a black background. It has been modified for legibility.)
MOSES LAKE — When you buy a home, there are often neighborhood covenants that come with the property. Sometimes you have to have your house set a certain distance back from the street, or you can’t put up a shed as a second residence, or you can’t run certain kinds of business out of the house. And on paper, at least, sometimes you have to be white to live there.
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