In the early 20th century, the St. Louis area developed a method of racial segregation through restrictive covenants, which legally kept Black Americans from living in certain neighborhoods to preserve whiteness. Between 1910 and 1950, over 500 such neighborhood restrictions were drafted and recorded in St. Louis.

Although the U.S. Supreme Court deemed in 1948 the enforcement of these racial covenants to be unconstitutional, they offered no means of reflecting this in property records.  As a result, race restrictions remain stuck in property records. Your home may include such a restriction in its chain of title.

Because history is important, we do not think these records should simply be erased.  Some states, unlike Missouri, have made it possible to discharge these restrictions with a simple, no-cost submission to your local Recorder of Deeds. We are petitioning Missouri to follow in their lead.