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Seattle鈥檚 buried past reveals itself in strange ways. There was the at the University of Washington鈥檚 Hec Ed Pavilion. When opened to an assembled crowd nearly 20 years ago after more than 70 years buried, all it contained was an old newspaper, paperwork, and a dime. People booed.

Or it鈥檚 found in the in Bertha鈥檚 path and stopped the billion-dollar tunnel boring project in its tracks. It now ranks as the most expensive mess of aging, neglected metal in Seattle since Rush鈥檚 R40 tour.

But sometimes, what鈥檚 hidden in local history remains in plain sight. Or at least its effect does.

Haven鈥檛 seen it? Take a look at the , particularly those north of the Ship Canal. This (or something similar) is what you鈥檒l still find:

No property in said plat shall at any time be directly or indirectly sold conveyed or leased in whole or in part to any person or persons not of the White race.

That the language remains present in thousands of deeds records carries no weight legally. The constitutionality of those restrictions 鈥� at least from a property ownership standpoint 鈥� was settled four decades ago.

But socially and demographically, the echo remains. The language in tens of thousands of current property deeds are a central reason why neighborhoods today look strikingly like what was mapped as the ideal in the city’s racially segregated past.

Take Seattle鈥檚 City Council District 6 encompassing Ballard, Crown Hill, Loyal Heights and a handful of other neighborhoods. Written into the fabric of Seattle鈥檚 whitest council district, behind the boom of craft breweries and boxy, pricey modern homes, is an itemized, decades-old municipal past that helped determine how the neighborhood appears today.

鈥淚 used to say that I thought Seattle suffers from a bad case of historical amnesia,鈥� said , a University of Washington researcher, author and co-founder of the . 鈥�(Seattle is) so interested in imagining it is a liberal, nice place that it鈥檚 not really aware of its past.鈥�

Gregory isn’t arguing that covenants are solely to blame for Seattle’s current neighborhood demographics. The process of — earmarking certain neighborhoods as off-limits for home sales to minorities — and simple societal pressure played important roles as well. 聽But putting segregationist language into the property ownership deeds locked it temporarily into practice and permanently into history.

Many locals remain unaware of the past that remains written in neighborhood covenants. Covenants, an early version of the rules guiding modern homeowner association corporations (HOAs), were legally enforceable neighborhood standards, from tree or home height to where garbage cans are allowed. Less well-known is that they also set rules about who could live in the neighborhood either as a renter or owner.

Written into deeds in the early and middle 20th Century, Seattle鈥檚 housing restrictions specified the prohibition of people of 鈥淢alay descent鈥� or having 鈥淎siatic features.鈥� Restrictions banned renting or ownership by 鈥淓thiopians鈥� (as shorthand for African) or by any 鈥淥rientals.鈥� And if you were a white homeowner, don鈥檛 even consider renting a spare room to a Hebrew.

In the 1930s and 1940s, developers advertised neighborhoods as both beautiful and 鈥渞estricted,鈥� . These covenants exist in Greenwood and Laurelwood; they remain in the records in Queen Anne and Magnolia, among other neighborhoods. But nowhere in the city were they used as pervasively as the neighborhoods north of the Ship Canal where the town saw breakneck growth in the 1920s and again in the 1940s and 1950s.

It was here, Gregory said, that the platted growth in Seattle, Shoreline, Edmonds and the Eastside sought to break from the racial chaos of the center city. It was here where racial restrictions 鈥� even immediately Post WWII — sometimes were written to allow only Aryans.

鈥淭his was a way to prevent other Europeans, such as Italians and Jews, from moving in,鈥� Gregory said.

Conversely, in few places were they used less than in the Central District, Rainier Valley and Skyway, Seattle’s historically black neighborhoods. And even though the last of the racial covenants were written in the 1950s, the recent U.S. Census data shows the decades-long, lingering effect.

The most recent U.S. Census map makes it clear: Seattle鈥檚 history of covenants remains, in effect, a living history. While Seattle’s black population over the past 20 years has migrated south — in some cases pushed south as a result of gentrification — northern movement has remained minimal.

Gregory says he has mentioned Seattle鈥檚 segregation to locals who have replied, 鈥淭here鈥檚 no segregation in Seattle.鈥�

The difference, he said, is that residents and local historians in Chicago, Birmingham, Selma and Atlanta 鈥� among other American cities — publicly acknowledge the cities’ racially segregated past. It鈥檚 important, he said, that Seattle understands its present state by acknowledging its past intent. 聽Both in words and deeds.

鈥淚t was partly being annoyed at those (no segregation) comments that led to the formation of the Civil Rights and Labor History Project. The goal was to demonstrate that segregation and civil right are as much a part of Seattle鈥檚 history as Selma鈥檚 history.鈥�