These preliminary maps show some of the neighborhoods where racial restrictive covenants were added to property records in the first half of the 20th century. More than 34,000 properties were restricted in more than 340 subdivisions. Zoom and pan for a closer look. Click on any parcel to see the restriction. The gray scale coloring reflects the current racial demography of census tracts and block areas as reported in the 2020 census. The color white means the population is more than 65% nonHispanic White. (Note: the map will take several seconds to load).

Notes:

These are preliminary findings and our research is far from complete. We are grateful to the King County Archives for providing access to records even under very difficult circumstances. A small portion of the relevant King County property records have been digitized. The archives allowed us to search them using a computer program written by Nicholas Boren. Records from the prime decades (1930-1950) are only available on microfilm which need to be searched visually. With help from student volunteers from Professor Tracy Lai's history classes at Seattle Central Community College, we are making our way through them. Hundreds of thousands still need to be searched. This research is coordinated by Samantha Cutts, Erin Miller, and Sophia Dowling. Maps by Alvin Bui and Sophia Dowling.

On the map above, do not assume that areas without marks were not restricted. Deed restrictions were only one of the mechanisms of segregation. Neighborhoods without covenants often practiced racial exclusion by other means.

There is a logic to the geography. Areas platted (subdivided) between 1925 and 1948 were most likely to be restricted. Realtors and developers wrote racial exclusions into the initial documents subdividing a future neighborhood. All properties in the subdivision were thus legally restricted. It was more complicated to restrict older areas. Neighborhood associations sometimes organized petition drives and convinced white homeowners to add racial restriction clauses to their properties.

Look at the language of restriction in these deeds. Some specify that neighborhoods are reserved for "Whites," while others enumerate the prohibited racial groups. And the wording is curious. In the terminology of the 1920s-1940s "Hebrews" meant Jews; "Ethiopians" meant African ancestry; "Malays" meant Filipinos; "Mongolians" meant all East Asians; "Hindus" meant all south Asians.