HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) – Racist and discriminatory language in deeds, is indeed, a reality in Pennsylvania.

Blatant words that say this ‘house cannot be sold to a person of color or a Jewish person’ were outlawed decades ago but remain in the paperwork across Pennsylvania.

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A new law will let new homeowners officially reject hurtful reminders of the past.

State Representative Justin Fleming (D-Dauphin) said a friend found this cringe-worthy language in his house’s paperwork: “No race or nationality other than the Caucasian shall use or occupy any building upon any lot.”

Fleming’s bill, now law, will create a form allowing current homeowners to officially reject the sign of the past if they choose.

“I want to repudiate this and I want to make sure this document follows the deed going forward,” said Fleming. “So future owners know that this was not okay, in my view.”

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Rep. Paul Schemel (R-Franklin) is an attorney who does title searches and helped Fleming craft the bill. He says he’s seen language like what Fleming found in deeds all over the Commonwealth, including in his home of Franklin County.

“You’ll see these provisions will say things like ‘no one of African descent’ and ‘no outhouses and no pigs,'” said Schemel.

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Jim Zugay is the President of the PA Recorder of Deeds Association, which will help craft the new form but won’t have to scrub offensive language from centuries of documents.

“They’re looking to repudiate it so that we don’t have to have that burden of going through all of our records on microfilm that we’ve had back to the 1700s,” said Zugay.

Fleming says his bill is more about learning from history than erasing it.

“It’s important to remember, if we’re going to grow as a society, we can’t just deny and say, hey, these things didn’t happen.”

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