Shelley v. Kraemer, 334 U.S. 1 (1948)

"No property shall be occupied by any person not of the Caucasian race."

Shelley House, National Historic Landmark

Missouri, 1911. "No property shall be occupied by any person not of the Caucasian race." That's the agreement residents of one Saint Louis neighborhood sign. Four decades later, the Shelleys buy a house there. They're black. The neighbors sue. The Supreme Court of Missouri rules the Shelleys must move out.

In 1948, the United States Supreme Court overturns that ruling. "The Constitution confers upon no individual the right to demand action by the State which results in the denial of equal protection of the laws to other individuals." Chief Justice Vinson writes: "It cannot be doubted that among the civil rights intended to be protected from discriminatory state action by the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment are the rights to acquire, enjoy, own and dispose of property."

For more...

J.D. and Ethel Lee Shelley St. Louis Equal Housing Opportunity Counci

Putting A Face on the Struggle for Fair Housing in St. Louis

Shelley House National Park Service

A National Historic Landmark

AMENDMENT 14 Due Process and Equal Protection of the Law

Passed by Congress June 13, 1866. Ratified July 9, 1868.

Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. [^].

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