The Uncostitutional Restrictive Covenants

In the early 1900s, “restrictive covenants” more specifically racially restrictive covenants were legally enforceable agreements that prohibited landowners from leasing or selling property to minority groups, at that time namely African Americans. The practice of the covenants, private, racially restrictive covenants, originated as a reaction to a court ruling in 1917 “which declared municipally mandated racial zoning unconstitutional . . . leaving the door open for private agreements, such as restrictive covenants, to continue to perpetuate residential segregation” (Boston, n.d.). It was more of a symbolic act than attacking the “discriminatory nature” (Schaefer, 2012, p. 184) of the restrictive covenants, when the Supreme Court found in the 1948 case of Shelley v Kraemer that racially restrictive covenants were unconstitutional. In this particular case, a white couple, the Kraemers lived in a neighborhood in Missouri that was governed by a restrictive covenant. When a black couple moved into their neighborhood, the Kraemers went to the court asking that the covenant be enforced. In a unanimous decision, it was decided, “state courts could not constitutionally prevent the sale of real property to blacks even if that property is covered by a racially restrictive covenant. Standing alone, racially restrictive covenants violate no rights. However, their enforcement by state court injunctions constitutes state action in violation of the 14th Amendment” (Shelley v. Kraemer, 1948). Even though the Supreme Court ruled that the covenants were unenforceable, it was not until 1968 when the Fair Housing Act was passed that it become illegal (Latshaw, 2010). Even though today it is illegal, it might appear that we still have an unspoken...

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Works Cited

Alton, G. (n.d.). Religion and black history. Retrieved from: http://www.ehow.com/about_5312384_religion-black-history.html#ixzz2x1RaW3l1
Hutcheson, R. (1999, July 14). Bush’s deed had a “Whites-only” provision. Inquirer Washington Bureau. Retrieved from http://articles.philly.com/1999-07-14/news/25524639_1_racially-restrictive-covenants-deed-white-house
Latshaw, G. (2010, August 3). Racism shadows property covenants. USA Today.Retrieved from http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-08-03-racistcovenants03_ST_N.html
Schaefer, R. (Ed.). (2012). Racial and ethnic groups. (13th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.
SHELLEY v. KRAEMER. The Oyez Project at IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law. 23 March 2014. . www. bostonfairhousing.org/timeline/1920s1948-Restrictive-Covenants.html