In a pivotal civil rights decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Hansberry v. Lee, a case involving racially restrictive housing covenants in Chicago. The Court unanimously reversed a lower court’s enforcement of a covenant that barred Black families from buying homes in certain neighborhoods.
The case was brought by Carl Hansberry, the father of playwright Lorraine Hansberry (A Raisin in the Sun), after he purchased a home in a white neighborhood in defiance of such covenants. While the ruling focused on due process violations rather than racial discrimination per se, it opened the door for future legal challenges against housing segregation and discriminatory practices in real estate.
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