NORTHAMPTON — When a lot on Ridgewood Terrace sold in 1926, there were a few restrictions explicitly written into the deed: It couldn’t be turned into a store, nothing could be built within 20 feet of the road, and it “shall not be sold or occupied by any colored person.”
At least 140 deeds or mortgages in Northampton either contain or reference previous documents that include explicitly racist language restricting the sale of property based on race, according to a preliminary report recently released by the Northampton Reparations Study Commission.