Racial and Religious Covenants

in the U.S.and Canada



Chicago Defender Headlines in Wake of U.S. Supreme Court Ruling in Hansberry v. Lee,November, 1940	Racial Clause of 1925 Abstract of Title of Lake County, Illinois Property (In possession of author, with thanks to Raymond Brod of University of Illinois at Chicago for making available a copy)

This WWW page was established in connection with the preparation of a Ph.D. dissertation entitled "Deeds of Mistrust: "Racial Restrictive Covenants in Chicago, 1900-1953" by Wendy Plotkin, completed in 1999 at the University of Illinois at Chicago under the supervision of Perry Duis. All original material by Wendy Plotkin is copyrighted, and permission to distribute such material is not authorized and forbidden without the prior written approval of Wendy Plotkin.

I am happy to correspond with others interested in the topic of racial restrictions in housing in the U.S. and elsewhere. Feel free to contact me at: wendyplotkin@wbhsi.net

This page was minimally updated on 1 September, 2003, with the majority of material placed prior to 1999. I hope to update it in the coming year to include materials I’ve gathered while working on the manuscript that will result from the dissertation. All links to e-mail addresses for myself other than that shown above are obsolete.

I. National

I.1 Covenants

Federal Housing Agencies

HOLC Protest by Detroit Organizations in 1939
Provisions of Federal Housing Administration Underwriting Manuals on Racial Occupancy

1947 Statement by Housing and Home Finance Agency (HHFA) Administrator on Covenants' Effect on Public Housing Planning

Real Estate Community

William L. Bailey, "Appraising Urban Communities: Techniques & Objectives," The Journal of Land & Public Utility Economics, XVI:1 (February, 1940), 1-7.
Rose Helper, Racial Practices & Policies of Real Estate Brokers (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1969), Selections from Chapter VII, "The Real Estate Board, Part I". Discussion of various appraisal and real estate texts from the 1920s through the 1950s that espouse a "racial ideology" identifying the presence of racial minorities as a negative factor in assessing the location of real estate

Judicial Action

U.S. Supreme Court Decision, Shelley v. Kraemer, 1948

Studies of Covenants (Scholarly/Advocacy)

Gunnar Myrdal, An American Dilemma (Originally published by Harper & Row, 1944) on racial restrictive covenants.
Robert Weaver, The Negro Ghetto (New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1948) on racial restrictive covenants.
Robert Weaver, "Hemmed In: The ABC's of Race Restrictive Housing Covenants," A 1945 Pamphlet Published the American Council of Race Relations

I.2 Sociological Studies of the Ghetto and Race Relations

Ernest Burgess on "Residential Segregation in American Cities" on Ethnic Responses to African-Americans
E. Franklin Frazier. Excerpts from various works on racial residential segregation. (Temporarily unavailable)
T. J. Woofter, Jr., Negro Problems in Cities (Originally published by Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc., 1928) on neighborhood associations and zoning.

I.3 Comparison of South African & U.S. Race Relations and Institutions

George Fredrickson on Residential Segregation in White Supremacy

II. Urban

II.1 Chicago

A. Covenants

Overview

"Deeds of Mistrust: Race, Housing and Restrictive Covenants in Chicago, 1900-1950" (a working paper presented to the Newberry Library Scholl Center for Family and Community History's Urban History Dissertation Group on May 21, 1997)

1920s

Standard racial restrictive covenant used in Chicago after 1927
Helen C. Monchow, The Use of Deed Restrictions in Subdivision Development (Chicago: The Institute for Research in Land Economics and Public Utilities, 1928), Adaption of Table III, Restrictions on Alienation and Occupancy (Non- Chicago subdivisions excluded). List of Chicago Subdivisions With Racial Deed Restrictions

1930s

Hansberry Case

Key Events Preceding Case

Creation of Washington Park Covenant

Chicago Defender May 7, 1927 article about circulation of covenant

September 30, 1927 Washington Park Subdivision covenant (recorded 1 February 1928)
October 22, 1932 Chicago Defender article "Whites Eager for Color Bar in Woodlawn" (about attempt to oust James L. Hall from apartment)
Statements from Decree in 1933 Covenant Case of Burke v. Kleiman (key to the ruling against Hansberry in the Circuit and Illinois State Supreme Court cases)
Saturday, August 5, 1933 Chicago Defender article "Judge Gentzel Upholds Jim Crow Plot; To Appeal about Burke v. Kleiman decree.

Defendants in Hansberry Case

Harry H. Pace

CHICAGO DEFENDER article of July 8, 1933 "Harry H. Pace Graduates from Chicago Law School "

Attorneys in Hansberry Case

Defendants

Earlier Attempts to Elect African-American Lawyers to County Judgeships

October 24, 1923 Clarence Darrow letter to editor of Chicago Broad Ax (an African-American newspaper) supporting Edward H. Morris

Irvin C. Mollison

Obituary of Willis E. Mollison, father of Irvin C. Mollison.

Timeline in Hansberry Case

The Hansberrys purchased the property at 6140 Rhodes Avenue on May 27, 1937.
A complaint was filed against them in the Cook County Circuit Court on June 7, 1937.

Full text of Hansberry v. Lee complaint filed in State of Illinois, Circuit Court of Cook County, Gen No. 37C 6804 on June 7, 1937

Chicago Defender September 25, 1937 editorial "Building Ghettoes," about involvement of University of Chicago and Judge Michael Feinberg in enforcement of covenant.
Chicago Defender April 22, 1939 editorial about Republican scuttling of Judge Michael Feinberg's slating on Republican ballot for circuit court judge due to Hansberry trial behavior
On 17 June 1938 Judge George Bristow announced his decision in Court (Abstract, Page 264) and asked the Plaintiff's attorney to draw up the decree.
On 19 August 1938 Judge George Bristow issued the Decree in favor of the plaintiffs.

Decree of Judge George Bristow on 19 August 1938 finding in favor of Plaintiffs and ordering eviction and sale of premises at 6140 Rhodes Avenue by Hansberry.

On 19 August 1938 the Defendants petitioned that the Decree be overruled.
On 29 September 1938, Judge Bristow denied and overruled the petition.
On 15 November 1938, the Defendants appealed the case to the Supreme Court of Illinois.
In April 1939, the Supreme Court of Illinois heard the Appeal of Anna M. Lee, et al vs. Carl A. Hansberry, et al.
On 10 October 1939 the Supreme Court of Illinois affirmed the Circuit Court's decision.
On 22 April 1940, the Supreme Court of the United State issued an order allowing certiorari in the case of Hansberry, et al vs. Lee, et al.
On 25 October 1940, the Supreme Court of the United States heard the case of Hansberry, et al vs. Lee, et al.
On 12 November 1940, the Supreme Court of the United reversed the decision of the Supreme Court of Illinois.