Sundown Towns: Real Estate Practices: Ligitation and Legislation

Arrianna Marie Conerly Coleman
History 139c: Essay Research

1917: Buchanan v. Warley

• Louisville, Kentucky
• Ruled that an ordinance requiring residential racial segregation violated the 14th Amendment
• http://www.enfacto.com/case/U.S./245/60/ (10-04-08)

1922: The first Neighborhood Association was founded in LA as “The Anti- African Housing Association”, but later renamed “University District Property Owners Association.” (391, Loewen)

1948: President Harry S. Truman signed Executive Order 9981, desegregating the Armed Forces, connection to inequity in FHA and Veteran’s Administration benefit distribution to Black vets.

1948: Shelley v. Kraemer
St. Louis- restrictive covenant had banned “people of the Negro or Mongolian race” from owning property in the city.
- Supreme Court of Missouri ruled in favor of enforceability of covenants, stating that they were private agreements between the original land- owners, and thus the agreement was tied to the land, not the persons. On this basis, the state had the right to enforce these racially- based restrictive covenants.
- The United States Supreme Court ruled against state enforcement of racially- based restrictive covenants, because it would be a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. Additionally, the Supreme Court ruled that the covenants were private agreements, and thus not illegal- the judicial enforcement of these agreements was illegal and unconstitutional.
- http://supreme.lp.findlaw.com/supreme_court/briefs/01-1269/01-1269.mer.ami.lccr.pdf (10-04-08)

1972: The National Association of Realtors adopted a fair housing policy

1974: Milliken v. Bradley
• 5-4 decision
• Detroit, which in 2000 was the most segregated metropolitan area according to 2000 Census Bureau data (Loewen, 358)
• The court contended that school desegregation did not mandate a racial balance in the classroom.
• Exempted suburban school districts from responsibility in desegregation of schools, bussing
• http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=418&invol=717 (10-04-08)

1975: The federal Home Mortgage Disclosure Act of 1975 forced banks to disclose lending patterns- to prevent red-lining

1977: Community Reinvestment Act makes redlining illegal

1988: Fair Housing Amendments Act
• http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/housing/title8.htm
• Section 805 is of particular interest

BIBLIOGRAPHY

See also:
1. James Loewen, Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism, ( New York City: The New Press, 2005), 397
• “Housing segregated along race and class lines still signifies social power and success.” (363)
2. Patricia Broussard, http://writ.lp.findlaw.com/commentary/20051102_broussard.html
3. Donald Deskins Jr., and Christopher Bettinger, “Black and White in Selected Metropolitan Areas” (2002), in Kate A. Berry and Martha L Henderson, eds., Geographical Identities of Ethnic America, (Reno: University of Nevada Press, 2002), 38
4. Gunnar Myrdal, An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and American Democracy, (New York: Harper Brothers, 1944)
• Cites residential segregation as key factor in the subordinate status of Blacks