Housing-rights amendment inspired by Martin Luther King Jr.
The Civil Rights Act of 1968 provided much-needed protection for minorities and others when it comes to housing. The landmark legislation, which was inspired by the teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., was pushed through a reluctant Congress by President Lyndon B. Johnson.
Q. Does the federal Fair Housing Act prohibit sellers or landlords from discriminating against people based on their sexual orientation?
A. No. A handful of cities have specifically extended federal anti-discrimination housing protection to LGBTQ individuals and couples, but the U.S. government itself does not.
The federal Fair Housing Act, part of the larger Civil Rights Act of 1968, initially prohibited a seller, landlord or bank from discriminating against a buyer or tenant based on race, religion, national origin or sex. In later years, Congress expanded the law to ban discrimination based on a person’s disability or family status. In 1968, the proposed legislation had been languishing in Congress for more than two years, but President Lyndon B. Johnson finally pushed through the Capitol Hill morass and persuaded lawmakers to approve the act just days after civil-rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on April 4 in Memphis, Tennessee.
President Johnson said his approval of the landmark legislation was a fitting tribute to the slain Dr. King. It’s fitting, too, that so many Americans will honor the African-American minister and peaceful activist on Jan. 15, which would have been his 89th birthday.
This also is a good time to wish Unionville, Maryland, a belated happy 150th birthday. Not far from Chesapeake Bay, this town was essentially founded by 18 black veterans who had fought in the pro-Lincoln United States Colored Troops during the Civil War.
Unionville is believed to be the only American town to be founded by war vets who had previously been enslaved. No slaves were allowed in the Talbot County community, where pro-slavery supporters were still angry about losing the Civil War.
Naming the town “Unionville,” after the hated Union government, made the pro-South residents in the rest of Talbot County even angrier — but it also made a dramatic statement by the now-freed black vets about the principles of equality and liberty. REAL ESTATE TRIVIA This is not trivial at all, but the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling of 1948 in Shelley vs. Kraemer said that failing to sell a house or rent an apartment to someone based solely on their race is illegal. It took another 20 years, but President Johnson’s approval of the Civil Rights Act of 1968 essentially gave the federal government power to enforce the Supreme Court’s earlier decision.
Q. I enjoyed your recent column about towns that are named after food. But how did you forget about my mom’s home, the city of Two Egg, Florida?
A. I’m sorry, but that column was about holiday dinners, rather than breakfast the next day.
I am always amazed that I can spend 50 hours or more researching and writing about a new tax law or Supreme Court ruling, and only two or three readers will send a followup question. But if I don’t mention their hometown in the silliest of columns (like the one I penned a few weeks ago about towns that are named after food), I get showered with letters from good folks like you who lament that a community they love wasn’t mentioned.
That said, Two Egg, Florida, would be a great place to have your morning meal. So would Cereal, Pennsylvania, or Oatmeal, Texas — especially if you pick up some fruit for your bowl in Strawberry, South Carolina. Don’t forget your bread from Toast, North Carolina. Something from Bacon, Texas, would be good, too.
With all due respect to my relatives and friends in the Bluegrass State, I’d skip breakfast in Rabbit Hash, Kentucky. But some fried grits from Hominy, Oklahoma, would be nice — as long as they don’t come from the fields of Burnt Corn, Alabama.
Send questions to David Myers, P.O. Box 4405, Culver City, CA 90231-2960, and we’ll try to respond in a future column.