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Edmond officially removes discriminatory language from plat documents

Edmond Mayor Darrell Davis signs the first removal of an illegal, discriminatory restrictive covenant in the city under new state law.
City of Edmond
Edmond Mayor Darrell Davis signs the first removal of an illegal, discriminatory restrictive covenant in the city under new state law.

Plat documents are the official land records that determine the boundaries and uses of a specific plot of ground.

Despite national law and court precedent, some plats in Edmond continued to have discriminatory language precluding Black people from owning or operating on specific properties.

That changed when the city’s first Black Mayor, Darrell Davis, signed the removal of the language in a ceremony at the Edmond Chamber of Commerce.

The city removed language from the Highland Park Addition Plat, the first to include discriminatory wording dating back to 1909. Edmond had a history of Jim Crow laws, restricting Black people in what’s known as a "sundown town."

Local business owner Wayne Frost first raised the issue in 2022, telling nonprofit news outlet NonDoc, “It’s just a reminder for me of where we’ve come from, from where this place used to be in the ’50s, to what it is now.”

The language in the plat had said, “No person of any race, other than the Caucasian or American Indian shall ever own, use, or occupy any land or structure in this addition except that this covenant and restriction shall not apply to nor prevent occupancy of domestic servants of a different race domociled (sic) with an owner or tenant.”

The move was paved by state legislature efforts over the last two years to allow municipalities to change outdated, discriminatory language on land plat documents.

In 2023, Rep. John Pfeiffer (R-Orlando) pushed through House Bill 2288, which allowed property owners to “repudiate discriminatory language within land records by filing a declaration with their county clerk.”

Last year, Sen. Kristen Thompson (R-Edmond) and Pfeiffer sponsored Senate Bill 1617, which allowed municipalities to change discriminatory language in plat documents independently.

The plat first changed includes a mixture of housing, commercial properties, a fire station, part of the University of Central Oklahoma and the Edmond Chamber of Commerce, according to a city press release.

The city says an additional 19 plat documents with similar language will be brought forth for changes in the coming months.


This report was produced by the Oklahoma Public Media Exchange, a collaboration of public media organizations. Help support collaborative journalism by donating at the link at the top of this webpage.

Robby grew up in Ardmore, Oklahoma and Fayetteville, Arkansas, and graduated from the University of Nebraska with a Journalism degree. Robby has reported for several newspapers, including The Roanoke Times in southwest Virginia. He reported for StateImpact Oklahoma from 2019 through 2022, focusing on education.
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