Teacher Refuses to Sell House to Former Pupil

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- Press Releases
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- LDF
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- fadcf0ea-b992-ee11-be37-00224827e97b

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Press Releases, Volume 6. Teacher Refuses to Sell House to Former Pupil, 1969. fadcf0ea-b992-ee11-be37-00224827e97b. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/0dee5ab8-9a0c-4fed-827f-32411ca0e3de/teacher-refuses-to-sell-house-to-former-pupil. Accessed November 23, 2025.

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    nee Francis E. Rivers 

PRESS RELEASE Director Counsel 
egal fense und Jack Greenberg 

NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND, INC. a eile 
10 Columbus Circle, New York, N.Y. 10019 * JUdson 6-8397 

Jesse DeVore, Jr. 
NIGHT NUMBER 212-749-8487 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

December 19, 1969 

TEACHER REFUSES TO SELL HOUSE TO FORMER PUPIL 

The following story should be of interest to your readers. 

In an effort to “protect the neighborhood," a former social 

studies teacher has refused to sell her $59,000 house in the 

village of Hastings-on-Hudson to a former student who is black. 

Mr. and Mrs. Donald Harris, a black family living in New 

York City, tried to purchase the house of Mrs. Charles J. Graef 

which was advertised in the New York Times in November of this 

year. Mrs. Harris was a pupil of Mrs. Graef when she attended 

school in Hastings. 

According to Mrs. Harris, after she saw the advertisement in 

the New York Times on Sunday, November 1, she called the broker 

listed in the ad, a Miss Marjorie Biser, and asked to see the 

advertised house. After seeing the house Mrs. Harris expressed 

an interest in purchasing it. Repeated attempts by Mrs. Harris 

to contact the broker and to place a deposit on the house met 

with delays and frustrations. 

Meanwhile, Miss Eiser was showing the house to other white 

prospective buyers and letting it be known to these buyers that 

a black family was interested in purchasing the house but if they 

wanted it they could certainly have first choice. Miss Eiser 

emphasized to several white prospective buyers that she was merely 

doing this so as not to upset the neighborhood. 

A complaint filed in federal court by the NAACP Legal Defense 

Fund and the Westchester Urban League alleges that Mr. and Mrs. 

Harris in their bona fide attempts to purchase this home have 

suffered and will continue to suffer damages from (a) humiliation 

and embarrassment caused by defendants' refusal to deal with 

them because of their race or color, (b) the deprivation by 

defendants of plaintiffs' constitutional and statutory rights 

freely to contract and to obtain housing without regard to race. 

Because of defendants’ willful, intentional and malicious refusal 

to deal with plaintiffs or the class they represent on a racially 

non-discriminatory basis and defendants' practice, policy, custom, 

usage and agreement to discriminate against plaintiffs and the 

class they represent because of race or color, plaintiffs claim 

exemplary or punitive damages in the amount of five thousand 

dollars ($5,000). 

The complaint was filed on Thursday, December 18, 1969. 

=30~ 

NOTE: Please bear in mind that the LDF is a completely separate 

and distinct organization even though we were established by the 

NAACP and those initials are retained in our name. Our correct 

signation is NAACP Legal Defense and. Educational Fund, Inc., 

requently shortened to LDF.

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Teacher Refuses to Sell House to Former Pupil

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