Trenton and Mercer County White Realtors Charged with Conspiracy
Press Release
June 22, 1965

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Press Releases, Volume 2. Trenton and Mercer County White Realtors Charged with Conspiracy, 1965. 38fb8b04-b692-ee11-be37-00224827e97b. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/46745902-a8a3-4883-aa20-f1585c9068ab/trenton-and-mercer-county-white-realtors-charged-with-conspiracy. Accessed May 14, 2025.
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10 Columbus Circle New York, N.Y. 10019 JUdson 6-8397 NAACP “Legal Defense and Educational Fund PRESS RELEASE FOR RELEASE Tuesday June 22, 1965 President Dr. Allan Knight Chalmers Director-Counsel Jack Greenberg ‘ : < TRENTON AND MERCER COUNTY WHITE BS ie an REALTORS CHARGED WITH CONSPIRACY é fs » F; Legal Defense Fund Files in Federal Court (*) LS TRENTON, N.J.---An unusual lawsuit using anti-trust laws to attack residential segregation in Northern communities was filed in Federal District Court here today by the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. aes ? Legal Defense Fund attorneys asked the court to stop the alleged "unlawful combination and conspiracy in restraint of interstate trade and commerce” by which the Trenton and Mercer County Board of Realtors has over the years denied membership to Negroes and maintained all-white neighborhoods. The new strategy was first attempted in a suit filed by se © Legal Defense Fund April 7, That suit against the Akrons Ohio ‘ realty board is pending in court. The Legal Defense Fund complaint, brought on behalf of Mrs. Carolyn D. Martin a Princeton Negro real estate broker who charged the Board with delineating white areas and refusing to rent or sell to Negroes there; with not allowing Negro agents to show listed dwellings in those areas; and with campaigning for increased member=) ship at the same time Negro applicants were being turned down. The attorneys pointed out that in addition to rejecting the Negroes, the Board publicized their rejections as based on failure to qualify, and held their applications for over a year without acting upon them at all. Although Mrs. Martin met all stated requirements for membership - the Board, she has been turned down six times since 1954. Legal Defense Fund lawyers noted that the exclusion of Negroes om the Board deprived them of: *Acgegs, to the multiple listing system, by which realtors enjoy a large market in all neighborhoods; (more) Jesse DeVore, Jr., Director of Public Information—Night Number 212 Riverside 9-8487 So u & That a Trenton & Mercer County White -2- June 22, 1965 Realtors Charged With Conspiracy é on && waged bs 5 *protect: n bymthe Code of Ethics of the National Association of Real Estate Boards (NAREB) which requires cooperation =>. ad ees | among brokers; ey eet *use of the "Realtor" trademark, regarded by the public as more reliable than "Broker"; $ *receipt of NAREB publications--including indispensable , bulletins, journals, and analyses devoted to problems and trends in the real estate business; *use of the extensive consulting and library facilities of the NAREB, the New Jersey and Trenton boards, According to Legal Defense Fund spokesmen, favorable court judgement of the application of anti-trust laws to real estate combinations would bring a breakthrough in the fight to end a residential segregation North and South, The civil rights attorneys argue that the laws apply, since persons moving to and from Mercer County travel in interstate commerce, as do a large part of the building supplies and materia used, the mortgages which finance housing, and the insurance whic! covers it. In addition to the anti-trust conspiracy claim, the Legal Defense Fund complaint charges that the discrimination practiced” the Board violates both New Jersey common law, which prohibits combinations in restraint of trade, and the 14th Amendment to thé U.S. Constitution. ‘The 14th Amendment forbids discrimination on the basis of race by public bodies. According to the Legal Defense Fund lawyers, the Board of Realtors performs official state functions and is thus q subject to the 14th Amendment guarantees. : Furthermore, the Legal Defense Fund suit charges, a New Jers Y state court case which led to the admission of a doctor to a medi association with some state functions established a prededent Bod P eae which covers the real estate Board as well. . il ome: eae rests. (more) wi Trenton and Mercer County White -3- June 22, 1965 Be) Charged. wiih Conspiracy = ne igsh a |COER vIn addition to qaeking an injunction ending the policy of adfying Beard membership to Negroes, the Legal Defense Fund suit asks the court to order the plaintiff accepted as a membaae on. n payne of the requisite fee, to consider Negro applicants wi “and to adjudge and decree that the Board has conspired to a. in violation of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. a Legs Defense Fund Director-Counsel Jack Greenberg and staff Ty Bove M,. Nabrit,III, Leroy D, Clark, and Sheila Rush were joined inthe action by Melvin Gittleman, North Bergen, New Jersey a of New York, and Jay T -30- iE eS * EDITOR'S NOTE: "The "NAACP Legal Defense Fund" is not the NAACP. The two were separated in 1939 and now function cd in close cooperation as two separate entities.