An Introduction to the Durham County Register of Deeds Office

Who owns it? Who sold it? How much did it cost?  These are just a few of the questions that someone with a little time on their hands can answer  as they wander through the records at the Durham County Register of Deeds Office. History and mission Since 1881 when William Lowe was installed as Durham’s first Register, Durham’s Deeds […]

A Legal History of Racially Restrictive Covenants

For many years, racial housing discrimination was a matter of public record. Under the “separate but equal” framework of Plessy v. Fergusson,[1] towns and cities across the country enacted racist public zoning laws that excluded non-white persons from the “nice” parts of town. This public racism was both legal and widespread. In fact, some of the country’s earliest zoning laws […]