One example of racially restrictive covenants in Arlington: 200-unit Allen Park Development in East Arlington (around current Hardy School) includes “No sale or lease of any said lots shall be made to colored people, nor any dwelling on any said lots be sold or occupied by colored people” on the development plans and in the property deeds.
Supreme Court case Buchanan v. Warley rules that racial zoning ordinances were unconstitutional, not because they were discriminatory, but because they interfered with the property owner’s right to sell to whomever they chose. This prompted towns all over the country to seek clever ways around this ruling. One of those ways was to introduce single-family zoning, another was restrictive covenants on deeds.