Desegregation of Community Clubs

In 1965, Paul Sullivan rented a house to Theodore R. Freeman Jr. and transferred a Little Hunting Park (LHP) membership as part of the lease. The LHP board denied the transfer in part because the Freeman family was African American. After Sullivan mounted a vigorous campaign of protest, the board also revoked his membership. Both families filed a lawsuit in 1966 and lost several appeals. In Dec. 1969, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Sullivan v. LHP that the exclusion of African Americans was a violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and thus constituted illegal housing discrimination. This case, along with the Fair Housing Act of 1968, desegregated recreational associations across the U.S.