The map below shows parcels of land in Syracuse, New York that had racially restrictive housing covenants. Racial covenants are requirements in property deeds that block ownership or occupancy to non-white racial groups. The US Supreme Court outlawed racial covenants in 1948 after Black-led political organizing, yet they reveal much about new and old forms of housing inequality. This site has identified over 1,000 covenants, and it will be a growing project that underscores housing and land histories in Syracuse. This site also links racial covenants to the CNY military tract system, a part of settler colonial genocide and dispossession since the 1790s. Click on the parcels below to see covenant information. Covenants contain racist language.

About Michael T. Kelly (he/him/his) is an organizer and geography student from Syracuse. He found and catalogued the racial covenants, created the maps with QGIS, and wrote the content and compiled references. The website is based on his 2021 master’s thesis, “Running with the Land: Racial Capitalism, Restrictive Covenants, and the Pre-Redlining Roots of the Private Real Estate Market in Syracuse, New York” and community organizing with Syracuse Tenants United and other groups.