In 1950 a group of African Americans, at a Studebaker factory in South Bend, Indiana, met in secret with a courageous mission: to stand up against entrenched and federally supported housing segregation. They created the non-profit organization Better Homes of South Bend. After a struggle of four years, the group managed to build twenty-two homes in a white neighborhood and create a vibrant community there.
Over a decade later in Chicago, residents were still fighting for fair housing. Unable to obtain traditional loans, they were forced to buy homes under contract with highly inflated prices and when they couldn't make the ever increasing payments, they were simply ejected. In January 1968, residents and activists organized the Contract Buyers League. The group fought hard in the courts and on the streets until they were able to renegotiate their abusive contracts. Later that year, the Fair Housing Act was enacted, outlawing housing discrimination across the United States.
The Fighting for Fair Housing Conference marks the 50th anniversary of this act. We look back at the discriminatory policies that inspired the act, and we discuss the act itself, what it has accomplished and the challenges of today. Academics, housing advocates, attorneys and community members will come together in a call to action to once again tackle the issues of housing discrimination.
Indiana attorneys who attend "Fighting for Fair Housing: A conference on the 50th anniversary of the Fair Housing Act" will be eligible to receive 9.5 Continuing Legal Education credits.
Please use this form to register for your credits.
9:30 am: Panel: The Fair Housing Act Today
McCartan Courtroom, Eck Hall of Law
Michael Seng, Co-executive Director, Fair Housing Legal Support Center and Fair Housing Legal Clinic, John Marshall Law School
Sarah Mancini, Atlanta Legal Aid Society and the National Consumer Law Center (Of Counsel)
Amy Nelson, Executive Director, Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana
12:00 pm: Keynote: Symbolic Racism and the Discrimination that Follows
McCartan Courtroom, Eck Hall of Law
Professor Elijah Anderson, William K. Lanman, Jr. Professor of Sociology and Professor of African American Studies at Yale University
1:00 pm Break for Lunch
2:00 pm: Panel: Mapping Discrimination
Eck Hall of Law, Room 1140
Kirsten Delegard, Director, Mapping Prejudice Project, University of Minnesota
Penny Petersen, Author and historical researcher
Kevin Ehrman-Solberg, University of Minnesota graduate student
3:00 pm: Panel: Where do we go from here?
Eck Hall of Law, Room 1140
An open discussion with policy makers, academics and local residents on what discrimination looks like today and how we combat it.
Information on visitor parking at the University of Notre Dame is available here.
"Fighting for Fair Housing" is sponsored by The Department of Africana Studies / The Center for Civil and Human Rights / The Center for Social Concerns / IU South Bend Civil Rights Heritage Center / Notre Dame Clinical Law Center / Notre Dame Office of Community Relations / St. Joseph Bar Foundation