Racial Covenants Workshop

How to Trace a Title

On February 22, MoCoLMP held a workshop at the Silver Spring library on how to search house titles for racially restrictive covenants and how to have them removed.

Such covenants were employed extensively by white homeowners and developers in the early 20th century to prevent Black people from purchasing homes in certain neighborhoods. These practices led to much lower rates of homeownership for Black residents, thereby greatly diminishing their ability to accumulate generational wealth. Racially restrictive covenants are no longer legal or enforceable, but represent a grim reminder of our nation’s history of systemic racism.

The MoCoLMP presentation included a slide show on how to use the Maryland Land Records digital archive to trace a home’s title back through various owners since the individual house or subdivision was built. Some participants brought laptops and did research on their own house while the presenters provided step-by-step instructions. Anyone wishing to try this research on their own can follow guidelines provided by:

• Historic Takoma: https://historictakoma.org/covenant/#Resources; or

• North Woodside, Silver Spring: https://northwoodside.org/2022/07/11/how-to-remove-a-racist-deed-covenant/

For more information about covenants and other forms of housing discrimination in Montgomery County, see the county’s Mapping Segregation Project report.