Wake County, N.C., home to Raleigh, the state’s second most populous city, released a searchable map Monday displaying the locations of historic property deeds containing racially restrictive covenants — and illustrating the lasting impacts of discrimination.
The new map is the latest in a series of resources produced by the broader Wake County Racially Restrictive Covenants Project, started in September 2023 to make this information more accessible to the public. The information is also available in other formats, including a video showing the spread of these covenants on a map over time, still images, a spreadsheet and a downloadable GIS system. A storyboard is in the works.
The Project’s work, spearheaded by two community volunteers, Bob Williams and Lisa Boccetti, was accomplished with no budget and at no cost to taxpayers. The Wake County Register of Deeds Office, which is led by Tammy Brunner and manages many public records including historical deed documents, supported it.
The endeavor, Williams said, is “opening a window into the past” by making historical information publicly accessible. It was important, he said, to make the data available in different formats, so it could be accessible regardless of a person’s technical expertise…