Memo RE: Levitt Discrimination Case
Press Release
February 23, 1955

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Press Releases, Loose Pages. Memo RE: Levitt Discrimination Case, 1955. 96b62215-bc92-ee11-be37-00224827e97b. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/ca7d4cfb-6a55-43ce-b2ad-19abb2615d89/memo-re-levitt-discrimination-case. Accessed June 13, 2025.
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N. A. A.C. P@ecan Derense ann Enuca@@a. Fun, we. 107 West 43rd Street, New York 36, N. Y. JUDSON 6-8397 ARTHUR B. SPINGARN “ Executive Officers seeds THURGOOD MARSHALL HON. HUBERT T. DELANY / Director and Counsel ELEANOR ROOSEVELT t SAREER TS GABE . CHANNING H. TOBIA: JACK GREENBERG ig Uecmee CONSTANCE B, MOTLEY S pence Wape ee MEMORANDUM Aaisticet Cann Sertory a ARNOLD deMILLE ROY WILKINS ALLAN KNIGHT CHALMEI Tre ‘Assistant Secretary RS TO: City Editors February 23, 1955 FROM: Arnold de Mille, Director Press Relations RE: Levitt Discrimination Case Builders Levitt and Sons, Inc, will go into Federa2 Court Monday morning, February 28, at 10:00 a.m. to seek dismissal of the discrimination suit filed against them in behalf of six Negro veterans who were refused the right to buy homes in the new Levittown development in Bucks County, Pa, The suit was filed against Levitt and Sons on January 13, 1955, in the federal district court in Philadelphia by attorneys for NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. It charged the firm of Levitt and Sons with using the federal government's pro~ gram of mortgage insurance and at the same time refusing to sell homes to Negroes, It asks the court to issue an injunction restraining the developers of Levittown, Pa. from discriminating against a person because of race or color in the sales of homes as long as the developers continue to use this federal govern- ment's aid. The suit also asks that the court restrain Levitt and Sons from refusing to sell to Negroes on the ground that Levittown is a town and levitt's policy of barring a person from the not yet completed Bucks County community because of race or color is state action in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment and the federal Civil Rights Statutes, When completed’, the Bucks County Levittown development will consist of some 16,000 small homes and will be sold to individual buyers whose mortgages will either be insured by the Federal Hous- ing Administration or guaranteed by the Veterans Administration, Further, Legal Defense lawyers for the 6 Negro veterans argue, Levitt has a monopoly on all new construction in the new community and serves the town of Levittown in the same manner as a public utility. Therefore, the builders should not be permitted to con- tinue their un-American and anti-Negro practices, Contributions are deductible for U. S. Income Tax Purposes Public Relations Named in the suit with Levitt are Norman P, Mason, Commissioner of the Federal Housing Adninistration; William A, Kelly, Director of the Philadelphia Insuring Office of the FHA; Harvey V, Higley, Administrator of Veterans Affairs, and Charles E, Engard, Director of the Loan Guarantee Section of the Philadelphia Regional Office of the VA. The 6 Negroes in whose behalf the litigation was brought tried to purchase homes in the Bucks County development as early as 1951 when Levitt and Sons opened their first model home and as late as June of 195. They are: Mr, and Mrs, Arthur L. Johnson, Mr, and Mrs, Andrew W, Boyd, Mr. and Mrs, Lawrence Patterson, Mr, and Mrs. Austin Moore, Mr. and Mrs, James Bryant, and Mr, and Mrs, Watson Earl Ruffin. On Tuesday, February 15, Levitt and Sons filed a motion with the Court asking that the suit acainst them be dropped on the grounds that the federal court has no jurisdiction over the case, Levitt's lawyers contend that the issue involved is for the state to decide and that the case should be thrown out of the federal court, However, in their motion for dismissal of the case the law- yers for Levitt and Sons did not deny the charges that they discriminate against Negroes or any other persons because of race or color, At the same time the complaint against Levitt was filed, NAACP Legal Defense attorneys filed a companion suit which sought to restrain the agents of FHA mortgage insured apartment housing developments in Philadelphia from discriminating because of race or color, This action was brought in behalf of a Negro family and other Negroes who had tried to rent but were refused solely because of their race. The family of J, Ralph Pearson was refused an apartment in the Olmey Gardens Apartments at Chew and Wister Streets by the renting agents. Named in this suit along with the agents were FHA Commissioner Mason and Mr. Kelly of the Philadelphia Insuring Office. On the same day Levitt's attorneys filed their motion for dismissal, the owners and agents of the Olney Gardens development agreed to rent to the Pearsons and any other qualified Negroes who apply for apartments. On Monday, February 21, the Pearsons received their key and are expected to move into the Olney Gardens apartments on March 1, These two cases are significant because they are the first court actions in the East brought to open up FHA mortgage insured private housing developments and apartments to Negroes and other minority groups. -2= NAACP Legal Defense attorneys in both cases are Thurgood Marshall, Director-Counsel of Legal Defense; Constance Baker Motley, Legal Defense Associate Counsel; Walter A. Gay, Jre, member Branch of the Legal Redress Committee of the Philadelphia NAACP and David E, Pindy of Philadelphia. Background on Levitt and Sons, Inc, Levitt and Sons are the developers and builders of the Levittown, Long Island, N. Y. as well as the Levittown, Pa. com- munity. William Levitt, head of the firm, is reported to be "the world's biggest builder of private homes," He has consistently, despite pressure from many sources, refused to sell to Negroes, In many quarters he is regarded as the arch proponent of discrim- ination against Negroes in housing. The Long Island community was developed in 1947. As the development progressed and homes went on sale, Negro veterans tried to purchase but were turned down, To perpetuate his anti-Negro policy, Levitt and Sons inserted in their leases, with respect to those homes leased, a clause which specifically stated that the homes could not be occupied by non-caucasians, In 1948, after much pressure, the FHA required Levitt to drop the clause from the leases. lawing Following the U, S. Supreme Court's 1948 decision out- the enforcement of racial restrictive covenants, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People appealed to the President of the United States to bar FHA mort- gage insurance on any restrictive property. The FHA then amended its rules to prohibit mortgage insurance where there was "recorded" a racial restrictive covenant. Levitt However, this amendment was interpreted by builders like and Sons as meaning that as long as there was no restric- tive clause in the lease or deeds, they could receive government aid and still continue their racial and religious discriminatory policies and practices, At the policy Island Construction of the Bucks County community began in 1951. very outset Negro veterans applied to purchase homes, The of discrimination against Negroes practiced in the Long community was carried over here. From 198 to the filing of the suit against Levitt on January 13, 1955, continued negotiations with FHA officials were carried on by NAACP and other groups to persuade the FHA to re- quire that there be no discrimination against any qualified applicant because of race, creed, color or national origin in housing facilities using the federal government's program of mortgage insurance and VA guarantee of loans to veterans, Soe While the Long Island community was still in the stage of developmens, the government of Israeli was giving serious con- sideration to inviting Levitt to build homes in that country, but a strong protest was lodged by Walter White of the NAACP, The invitation was later withdrawn, In a meeting with NAACP representatives and other leaders in October 1952, on the Levittowm, Pa. development, Levitt spe- cifically stated that he "will not sell to Negroes," The argument on Levitt's motion for dismissal takes place in the U. S. Court House, Ninth and Chestnut Streets, Philadelphia, = 30S alis