Thursday, October 1, 2026
There is strong evidence that Black and non-white families faced major barriers to living in Thurston County throughout much of the 20th century.
Access to housing for these groups today is directly related to the history of housing discrimination and racial exclusion. In our strategic plan, we address housing and wealth building. Because access to housing remains one of the strongest indicators of long-term economic opportunity, financial stability and generational wealth.
Forty-five percent of households are home owners compared to 69 percent of white households. 59 percent of Black renters are housing cost burdened and spend half of their income on housing.
Researchers at the University of Washington's Racial Restrictive Covenants Project found more than 1,700 properties in Thurston County with racially restrictive covenants that prohibited the sale or rental of homes to Black people, Native Americans, Asians, and other non-white groups.
Some deeds explicitly stated that property could not be "sold, leased or rented" to Black people. Despite thousands of Black soldiers serving at nearby Fort Lewis during World War II and the Korean War. Thurston County was hostile and unwelcoming to them, so they choose to commute from Tacoma, Kent and Seattle communities.
Researchers found that communities close to base, including Thurston County, reacted to the presence of large numbers of Black service members by expanding housing restrictions and exclusionary practices.
Despite the fact that George Bush and his family found a home here, non-white newcomers arriving later faced violence and exclusion.
Chinese immigrants who came to build railroads were also unwelcomed. A vicious anti-Chinese movement surged up and down the West Coast following the great depression of the 1870s and the nationwide railroad strike of 1877.
In 1882 Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, blocking future immigration from China, but nativists were still determined to drive out those already in the United States. White mobs, sometimes led by the Knights of Labor, attacked Chinese people in mining towns, railroad/lumber camps, and then cities.
In late 1885, the violence reached Tacoma, where a mob of white vigilantes, including the mayor, set fire to Chinese neighborhoods and drove out all Chinese residents. The "Tacoma method" was repeated in Seattle three months later, and the city was put under martial law.
Restrictive covenant covers a variety of property documents, including deeds and declarations of restrictions that are registered with county auditors by property owners and become permanently binding on all future owners.
Restrictions based on race were introduced in cities and towns across the country after World War I, as the Great Migration of African Americans began to change the demography of states outside the South. Due to these restrictive covenants, finding housing was nearly impossible for renters or buyers who were not white.
Correcting racial restrictive covenants
On May 31, 2025, Thurston County Auditor Mary Hall hosted a Housing Justice Forum along with the University of Washington's Racial Restrictive Covenants Project and Dr. Thelma Jackson of New Life Baptist Church.
The forum discussed the 1,700 racially restrictive housing covenants that still exist in Thurston County. These are clauses listed on housing deeds that prohibit properties from being sold to racial minorities.
Fred W. Carlyon and his wife, Coralie, were the first in Thurston County to include this restrictive covenant on their property deed in 1923. In 1926, these restrictions became legal.
All of Carlyon Beach Neighborhood on Steamboat Island still have these restrictions, though no longer enforceable since 1948. More disturbing is the specific language used by the Carlyon's on their deeds versus subsequent ones used elsewhere.
The auditor has been reaching out to community members to get them to remove this discriminatory language so it doesn’t perpetuate in future deeds. The auditor is offering free modification services, along with Olympia Federal Savings offering free notary services, for homeowners whose property deeds instructed segregation by race or religion.
I will share how a former soldier, Lacey Mayor Virgil Clarksonm with assistance from a governor, worked together to pass the first Open Housing Ordinance to end housing discrimination in our community.
Angela Jefferson is a Tumwater City Councilmember, Retired Soldier and member of the NAACP of Thurston County with a passion for social justice, civic engagement, education, and local history.
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Mangoo
Premise is a lie.
Other things also blatantly lies. I.e., today, blacks are forbidden to live anywhere they choose. Your Schick does not help the community. Also noticeably is any mention of a wayahead...just an obscure answer to a non-proble for the past 60+ years. Specifically tell me what must be given/provided to square things. Id happily be an advocate and do the hard work.
Monday, August 3 Report this
KellyOReilly
This history is interesting and important for all citizens to be aware of. Shocking, well maybe not, but certainly disappointing that it is taking so long to correct the situation with the land deeds. And please forgive me but my brain won't wrap around this sentence, "Forty-five percent of households are home owners compared to 69 percent of white households." because 45 + 69 sums to 114 and not 100 (as in percent). Is it me?
Monday, August 3 Report this
KatAshe
I grew up in west Los Angeles, between Santa Monica blvd. And Olympic, with Beverly Glen to the west, and the back lot of 20th Century Fox studio to the east. The majority of the homes had been built between the end of WWI and 1941. I remember learning in my teens that there were restrictive covenants in this neighborhood. I believe restrictions even included Jews, though by my birth 1in 1946, there were several Jewish families. It was not until I entered high school that fellow students were Hispanic and Japanese.
I was fortunate in that I was exposed to people of all races and nationalities due to growing up near UCLA, but was highly aware of racism in a so called liberal city.
Two strong memories, first Nat King Cole. He moved to Beverly Hills because the area, where the city of Los Angeles now owns a house, in an old monied area, for the use of the mayor, would not sell to him, and second, as late as the 1970s a black, physician, lawyer or other professional driving to work would be stopped by the Beverly Hills police as asked why this person was driving in ‘their’ city.
Tuesday, August 4 Report this
Snevets
Thank you for sharing Ms. Jefferson. I hope the present day owners in the Carylon Beach area & other communities work with Oly Fed to right those wrongs. This is 2026, everyone should be able to live wherever they choose.
Tuesday, August 4 Report this
AJefferson
@KellyOReilly. Thanks for your comment. In the NAACP Strategic Plan, we compared homeownership rates not the no of households.
Imagine there are 100 White households and 100 Black households.
-Of the 100 White households, 69 own their homes and 31 rent.
-Of the 100 Black households, 45 own their homes and 55 rent.
That’s what the statistic means, it compares the percentage of homeowners in each group, not the total number of homeowners.
Tuesday, August 4 Report this
ViaLocal
loving these articles, please keep them coming!
Thursday, August 6 Report this
ViaLocal
Mangoo - a good attitude is probably the first step.
Thursday, August 6 Report this
ViaLocal
https://rooseveltinstitute.org/blog/how-to-fix-housing/
https://rooseveltinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/RI_DontFixateRWG_Report_202001.pdf
Thursday, August 6 Report this
Somney
Thank you for sharing this.
Saturday, August 15 Report this