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Greater Baltimore Community Housing Resource Board, Inc. (GBCHRB)
April, 2015 / Vol. 21, No. 2
FAIR HOUSING NEWS
A newsletter about fair housing, community development, & neighborhood quality of life
FAIR HOUSING MONTH GREETINGS!
Welcome To The April, 2015 Edition of Fair Housing News,
Produced by the GBCHRB as a Public Service! Join the
mailing list: mailto:[email protected]. Go to our website
http://www.gbchrb.org for laws, links, and studies. See our Fair
Housing TV show on the GBCHRB's YouTube Channel http://www.youtube.com/user/wkladky1! Or, check out
http://www.gbchrb.org/2rad9899.htm for radio shows on
interesting topics about Fair Housing!
IN THIS ISSUE...
National News
HUD & DOJ Enforcement
Maryland News
Fair Housing Resources
Interesting Books
Rest in Peace
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6
7
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NATIONAL NEWS
HUD Starts National Fair Housing Month 2015
with the Launch Of a New National Media
th
Campaign. The Month celebrates the 47 anniversary of the passage of the 1968 Fair Housing
Act, passed shortly after the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The campaign by the
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) consists of print and
digital Public Service Announcements in various languages, webinars, training
presentations, brochures, online videos, and social media outreach. It is being
conducted in partnership with the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA). Each
April, HUD, local communities, fair housing advocates, and fair housing
organizations commemorate Fair Housing Month by doing various activities aimed
to enhance Americans' awareness of their fair housing rights, highlight HUD’s fair
housing enforcement efforts, and emphasize the importance of ending housing
discrimination. The 2015 campaign highlights the value of diverse communities
(in English and Spanish language), the obstacles households can sometimes face when trying to buy a
home (in English and Spanish), and the types of discrimination Veterans frequently encounter. To
view all of these announcements, visit the National Fair Housing Alliance. Read the April 1, 2015
HUD Press Release. Read the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law Statement.
Study of Mortgage Approval Rates by the Online Real Estate Website
Zillow Finds Much Discrimination. The study found that 10% of whites
who apply for a conventional mortgage are denied, blacks who apply for the
same loans are denied nearly 28% of the time, and 22% of Hispanics are
denied (2013 data). The disparity in mortgage approval rates narrows
slightly for loans to lower income households, based on mortgages backed by the Federal Housing
Administration (FHA). (FHA loans are popular among those with low incomes or poor credit because
these loans have lower down payments.) The study found denial rates on FHA loans are much higher
for blacks (24.3%) and Hispanics (20.5%) than for whites (14.2%). It also discovered that home
prices in Los Angeles' black and Hispanic communities are still 20% below peak levels, while prices
in the city's white areas have rebounded. Despite the geographic and income factors, the study
concludes that black and Hispanic people are at a significant disadvantage in the housing market. "It's
clear that the housing playing field remains strikingly unequal in this country," said Stan Humphries of
Zillow. Read the February 9, 2015 CNN Story.
M&T Bank Wants Dismissal of Lawsuit Filed in February, 2015
Accusing the Bank of Discriminatory Lending Practices. The
original suit filed by the Fair Housing Justice Center (FHJC) in
federal court in Manhattan accused the Bank of using racial criteria to
direct borrowers to certain neighborhoods and to determine their
eligibility for mortgages. In their new response to the suit, M&T said
its lending actions and decisions were based on legitimate, non-discriminatory reasons and not race,
color or national origin, according to the Buffalo News. An FHJC investigation found that minority
buyers were often steered to minority neighborhoods by M&T, according to the Buffalo News on April
9, 2015. The FHJC also found differences in the loan amounts that minority buyers were told they
would qualify for. The lawsuit accused M&T of violating the federal Fair Housing Act and state and
city human rights laws, and sought to halt alleged discrimination and to obtain damages. An initial
pretrial conference in the new case is set for May 1, 2015. Read the February 3, 2015 FHJC Article.
The Bazelon Center Pushes the Presidential Task Force on Policing to Try to
Prevent Law Enforcement Encounters for People with Mental Illness. The Judge
David L. Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law urged the President’s Task Force on
21st Century Policing to include recommendations in its final report that encourage
states to use strategies to reduce encounters with the criminal justice system for people
with mental illness and to help states pay for the relevant services and supports. Bazelon
also called on the Task Force to support community-based services to help people with mental illness
avoid confrontations with law enforcement in the first place. Bazelon praised the recommendations in
the Task Force's interim report calling for increased law enforcement use of practices such as Crisis
Intervention Teams training and Mobile Crisis Teams to make sure that police officers are better
prepared when they encounter people experiencing a mental health crisis. Read the Bazelon letter to
the Task Force. Read the March 18, 2015 Bazelon Press Release.
Bronx Rental Housing Race Discrimination Case Settled. The
2014-filed complaint by the Fair Housing Justice Center (FHJC) and
three African American testers alleged that J.J.A. Holding Corporation
engaged in racially discriminatory rental practices. Based on FHJC
testing, the complaint said that an agent for the company told African
American testers that no apartments were available while showing
available apartments to white testers on the same day. As part of the
settlement, the defendants agreed to adopt, post, and distribute a fair
housing policy; require employees and agents to participate in fair
housing training; make certain that available rental units are publicly advertised; and follow uniform
standards and procedures for showing available apartments and giving relevant information. The
defendants also agreed to notify tenants living in its buildings in other parts of the Bronx that they may
join a waiting list to receive priority consideration for any apartments that become available at the
rent-stabilized Woodlawn rental buildings. This will enable tenants residing in defendant-owned
buildings located in predominantly minority areas to move to any of the defendant's buildings in the
predominantly white Woodlawn. Additionally, the defendants will pay the plaintiffs $200,000 for
damages and attorney's fees. Read the March 12, 2015 FHJC Article.
Civil Rights Groups File Lawsuit against Rudeen Development for
Fair Housing Act Violations. The National Fair Housing Alliance
(NFHA), the Intermountain Fair Housing Council, and the Northwest
Fair Housing Alliance have filed a lawsuit against multifamily housing
developer, owner and manager Rudeen Development LLC. The lawsuit alleges that Rudeen
discriminated against people with disabilities in Washington State and Idaho in violation of the Fair
Housing Act's accessibility requirements for the design and construction of multifamily dwellings that
became the law in 1991. The lawsuit alleged that since 2006 Rudeen has developed multifamily
dwellings and common use areas that deny people with disabilities full access to and use of these
facilities, an illegal pattern and practice of discrimination. Cited examples of illegal design flaws
included routes; sidewalks or pathways that are too narrow; a lack of required access aisles in parking
areas; and insufficient space in bathrooms to allow people in wheelchairs to use toilets, sinks, and tubs.
Read the March 26, 2015 NFHA news release.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Issues
Guidance on Housing Counselor Requirement Including
Additional Instructions for Providing Housing Counselor
Information. The final interpretive rule on how to provide mortgage
applicants with a list of local homeownership counseling
organizations restates guidance issued by the CFPB in 2013, while
giving more guidance for lenders building their own lists of housing counselors. The rule also includes
guidance on the qualifications for providing high-cost mortgage counseling and for lender
participation in such counseling. It also includes new instructions about how to provide applicants
abroad with homeownership counseling lists; permissible geolocation tools; combining the
homeownership counseling list with other disclosures; use of a consumer’s mailing address to provide
the list; and high-cost mortgage counseling qualifications and lender participation in this. The DoddFrank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act included a requirement that mortgage lenders
provide applicants with a list of local housing counselors. Consumers will receive the list shortly after
they apply for a mortgage so they know where to get help when deciding what loan is best for them.
Lenders may fulfill the requirement by using CFPB-developed housing counseling lists, which are
available through an online tool created in 2013, or by developing their own lists using the same HUD
data that the CFPB uses to build its lists. Read the April 15, 2015 CFPB Press Release.
The National Consumer Law Center (NCLC) Calls CFPB’s Payday
Proposal a "Strong Start but (with) Worrisome Loopholes." The NCLC said
the CFPB's preliminary proposal to regulate payday loans includes standards that
could make smaller loans safer for consumers, but allowing some unaffordable,
high-cost loans to continue. The NCLC statement argued: “The proposal would
permit up to three back-to-back payday loans and up to six payday loans a year.
Rollovers are a sign of inability to pay and the CFPB should not endorse backto-back payday loans. The proposal would permit a triple-digit six-month
installment loan if payments are limited to 5% of the borrower’s gross income, regardless of the
borrower’s expenses or debts. That is a dangerous approach that blesses unaffordable high-rate loans.
Looking only at income ignores key elements to evaluate affordability: the borrowers’ expenses and
how the loans perform in practice. The 5% threshold is loosely based
on the Colorado payday loan experience. Yet Colorado’s data show
that 38% of state payday borrowers default and nearly half of larger
loans are ‘flipped’ loans taken out the same day as an early payoff of
the previous loan." Let's hope the CFPB is listening. Read the March
26, 2015 NCLC Statement.
32 Advocacy Organizations Send Open Letter Urging Public Officials to Address the Growing
Crisis of Hate-Based Violence. Responding to the record 14
homicides of LGBT individuals reported so far in 2015 - with
seven being transgender women of color and six have been
lesbian, gay, or queer-identified individuals - the LGBTQ
organizations sent the letter "to bring greater focus to this
continuing crisis." The letter urges public officials, policymakers,
and community leaders to recognize the crisis of hate-based
violence against LGBTQ individuals and to reduce the daily
discrimination impacting LGBTQ people, especially as it relates to "increased rates of poverty,
unemployment, and housing instability." The letter also asks members of law enforcement and the
media to "respectfully and accurately identify victims of violence with names and pronouns in line
with their current gender identity." According the Anti-Violence Project's annual report on hate
violence, there were 18 anti-LGBT homicides in 2013. Some 90 percent of the victims were people of
color, and over two-thirds were transgender women. Read the entire letter. Read the April 1, 2015
National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs Release.
HUD & DOJ ENFORCEMENT
HUD and the Housing Authority of Independence, Missouri (HAI), Reach
Agreements to Increase Access for Persons with Disabilities and Limited
English Proficiency. The Voluntary Compliance Agreements resolve HUD
findings which showed that HAI failed to provide persons with disabilities and
individuals with limited English proficiency real access to its HUD-funded
housing programs. HAI owns and operates 522 public housing units and administers more than 1,600
Housing Choice Vouchers. HUD's review found that HAI dwelling units, common areas, and other
HAI facilities were inaccessible to person with disabilities. HUD's review also found that HAI made
improper inquiries concerning the nature and severity of their disabilities and did not adequately
provide reasonable accommodations for those with disabilities. HAI will submit a corrective plan to
make all designated accessible units and common areas compliant with accessibility requirements,
including adjusting counter heights, making parking accessible, adjusting mailboxes, adding grab bars,
and other modifications to units and properties. Required to complete everything within two years,
HAI will also revise its policies to stop illegal inquiries into the
nature of a person's disability. HAI will analyze and assess the
needs of its eligible limited English proficient population to ensure
that they have reasonable access to all programs and activities, and
will then prepare and submit to HUD a written Language
Assistance Plan. After completing its analysis, HAI will display a
sign in the language of the groups served near each of its customer
service areas that will describe the language services that HAI
offers there and tells people that HAI provides free language services for individuals with limited
English proficiency, and employees will receive training on its duties under the agreements and its
Fair Housing Act obligations. Read the April 14, 2015 HUD Press Release.
Justice Department and CFPB Reach $169 Million Settlement Regarding
Credit Card Lending Discrimination by GE Capital Retail Bank. The
settlement to resolve allegations that GE Capital Retail Bank (now known as
Synchrony Bank) engaged in a nationwide pattern or practice of discrimination by
excluding Hispanic borrowers from two of its credit card debt-repayment
programs. DOJ and the CFPB argued that GE Capital violated
the Equal Credit Opportunity Act by excluding borrowers who
indicated that they preferred communications to be in Spanish
or had a mailing address in Puerto Rico from the two credit
card programs. The agreement, which is the federal
government’s largest credit card discrimination settlement in
history, provides $169 million in relief to 108,000 borrowers
and the reduction or complete waiver of their credit card
balances. Commendably, GE Capital identified and reported the discrimination to the CFPB, was
proactive in taking steps toward providing relief to affected borrowers, and worked closely with DOJ
and the CFPB to identify and compensate victims. GE Capital has already provided the benefits of the
offers or their equivalent value to approximately 84,000 borrowers, totaling $131.8 million. The Bank
will provide the remaining $37 million in payments, reductions, and waivers to affected borrowers. As
a result of the exclusions, Hispanic borrowers had higher debt levels and longer periods of debt. Some
also may have suffered additional economic damages, including credit problems, default, and
repossession, having their accounts closed or “charged-off” and sold to a third party, and other
damages. Read the June 19, 2014 DOJ Press Release.
Justice Department Reaches Settlement with edX Inc., Provider of
Open Online Courses, to Make its Website, Online Platform, and
Mobile Applications Accessible Under the ADA. The agreement
resolves DOJ’s allegations that edX’s website, www.edx.org, and its
platform for providing massive open online courses (MOOCs), were not
fully accessible to individuals with disabilities - including those who are
blind or have low vision, individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing,
and those who have physical disabilities affecting manual dexterity. edX was created by the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard University in 2012 as a nonprofit platform
for select universities to offer MOOCs to the public, and now has 60 university and institutional
members providing over 450 courses to over 3,000,000 learners. The agreement requires edX to make
many modifications to its website, platform, and mobile applications to conform to the Web Content
Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 AA, which are industry guidelines for making web content
accessible to users with disabilities. edX will also provide guidance and authoring tools to those that
create and post courses on www.edx.org to assist them in creating accessible course content. The
four-year agreement also requires edX to make the edX website, its mobile applications, and learning
management system software, through which online courses are offered, fully accessible within 18
months; ensure that its content management system, Studio, which edX makes available to those
creating online courses, is fully accessible and supports authoring and publishing of accessible content
within an additional 18 months; provide guidance to course creators at its member universities and
other institutions on best practices for making online courses accessible; appoint a Web Accessibility
Coordinator; adopt a Web Accessibility Policy; solicit feedback from learners on the accessibility of
the courses; conduct Web Accessibility Training for employees responsible for the website, platform,
and mobile applications. Read the April 2, 2015 DOJ Press Release.
Greenbrier Village Settles Lawsuit Alleging Unlawful
Discrimination Against Families with Children in Violation of Fair
Housing Act. The DOJ's settlement agreement with the Greenbrier
Village Homeowner’s Association Inc., Gassen Company Inc.
(Gassen), and an individual Gassen employee, resolves a 2013 lawsuit
that Greenbrier and Gassen unlawfully discriminated against residents
with children by issuing and enforcing rules regarding the use of
common areas at the Condominiums of Greenbrier Village. The
settlement includes a commitment from Greenbrier to establish a new nondiscrimination policy in accord with the Fair Housing Act, pay a $10,000
penalty, and pay $100,000 to six families that suffered as a result of the
discrimination. Greenbrier and Gassen created and enforced rules that prevented
children from equal enjoyment of common areas and made statements indicating
a preference against families with children. They were alleged to have required
children to be supervised at all times when in a common area, prohibited or unreasonably restricted
children from using the common areas, and selectively enforced the common area rules by issuing
warnings and violation notices only to residents with children. Greenbrier agreed to a financial
settlement with each of the families totaling $100,000; to implement a new anti-discrimination policy;
to have its board members and staff receive Fair Housing training, emphasizing discrimination on the
basis of familial status; and to pay a civil penalty. Read the March 20, 2015 DOJ Press Release.
MARYLAND NEWS
The Baltimore-Columbia-Towson Area Ranks 82nd of 100 in the
"Well-Being" of Residents. The 2014 Community Well-Being
Rankings are the latest from the polling company Gallup and the
consulting firm Healthways. The "Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index"
surveyed residents "to get a sense of their social, physical, and financial health, as well as their sense
of purpose and connections to their community - all factors that contribute greatly to worker
productivity, societal health costs and the economic competitiveness of a place." Questions asked
"covered a person’s sense of purpose (enjoying their livelihood, feeling motivated), social health
(supportive relationships that energize), financial health (level of financial stress), community ties
(attachment to a place, sense of pride) and physical health (often specific characteristics like bodymass index)." Incidentally, North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton, Florida and Honolulu, Hawaii were 1st
and 2nd in the rankings. Read the April 7, 2015 Governing Magazine Article.
Study Finds 23% of Baltimore Gentrified during 2000-2010.
Governing magazine has published a helpful map tool that shows
where gentrification has occurred in American cities. Baltimore's data
is "by and large what you would expect. Mostly white, once blue
collar neighborhoods such as Hampden, Remington, Fells Point, and
Federal Hill make up most of the neighborhoods that gentrified.
Gentrification occurring in predominantly white neighborhoods is a phenomena not limited to just
Baltimore. Other neighborhoods in the list include Reservoir Hill and
the Hollins Market area. Some of the neighborhoods you might not
expect include Cedonia in Northeast Baltimore, and Windsor Hills in
Northwest Baltimore." According to the study, 23.2% of all Baltimore
census tracts gentrified from 2000-2010. Read the March 18, 2015
CPHA Article. Read the February, 2015 Governing article.
The Maryland Partners For Justice Conference will be held on
May 14, 2015 from 8:15 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Baltimore
Convention Center (1 West Pratt Street, Camden Lobby, Baltimore,
Maryland 21201). "This Conference presents a unique opportunity for
legal services program staff, the public and private bar, members of
the judiciary, human services agencies, elected officials and others to
discuss critical issues facing the poor and underrepresented in our
state." Sessions include Access to Justice through Access to Legal Information, Housing Justice:
Evidence Matters, Improving Access to Public Benefits for People with Disabilities, Executive Action
for Immigrants: Getting Ready & Getting Going, From Ferguson to Maryland: Holding Police
Accountable, and others. The keynote speech is by Jonathan Rapping, Esq., President & Founder of
Gideon’s Promise. For more info, contact Kiah Pierre, Pro Bono Resource Center of Maryland at 443703-3046 or [email protected]. Go here to register.
Save the Date! Baltimore Neighborhoods, Inc. 56th Annual Meeting and
Reception will be on May 28, 2015 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at Temple
Oheb Shalom, 7310 Park Heights Avenue, Baltimore 21208. Details Coming
Soon! For more information: 410-243-4468, [email protected],
http://www.bni-maryland.org.
FAIR HOUSING RESOURCES
ERC Toolkit Educates Older LGBT Individuals On Fair Housing Rights.
Released in 2014, the toolkit of the Equal Rights Center (ERC) - a national
nonprofit civil rights organization in Washington, D.C. - helps older lesbian, gay,
bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) adults advocate for their right to housing. In a
2014 survey, conducted by Services and Advocacy for GLBT Elders (SAGE),
13% of LGBT adults aged 45-75 years reported discrimination based on sexual
orientation when seeking housing, and 25% of
transgender respondents reported discrimination based
on gender identity. A testing investigation conducted by the ERC in 2014
found 48% of older same-sex couples seeking independent living in a
senior housing community received at least one type of adverse,
differential treatment when compared with an opposite-sex couple seeking
the same housing. The toolkit provides an overview of the protections
against housing discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender
identity under the federal Fair Housing Act, the HUD rule on Equal
Access to Housing in HUD Programs Regardless of Sexual Orientation or
Gender Identity, and state and local fair housing ordinances. The toolkit
also includes advocacy tips, what to do when encountering discrimination, resources, and references.
The ERC consulted with SAGE - the largest national organization dedicated to improving the lives of
LGBT older adults - on this toolkit. Read the February 26, 2014 ERC Release.
Check Out HUD's Official Blog, The HUDdle. Here is one by Gustavo
Velasquez, the Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing, on Fair Housing Month http://blog.hud.gov. Interesting and informative. He concludes: "As we celebrate
another Fair Housing Month, I encourage everyone who believes in fairness and
equal opportunity to recommit ourselves to working toward creating a nation where
everyone has the same access to the housing of their choice. And a final reminder Fair housing is your right: Use it!"
Interested In Fair Housing? Community Development? Insurance?
Check Out the GBCHRB's YouTube Channel! You can watch interviews
about insurance problems, discrimination, affordable housing, Fair Housing
laws, disability issues, mortgage lending, and related current issues. Listen to
our radio shows by going to http://www.gbchrb.org/2rad9899.htm.
The GBCHRB Distributes Free Fair Housing Brochures, Posters, and Guides. We
have Fair Housing information, brochures, guides, & posters in English, Spanish,
Korean, Russian, and for people with disabilities. We distribute brochures and guides
about housing, life, & health insurance. 410.929.7640 / mailto:[email protected].
What Do You Think of This Newsletter? Is it good? Bad? How can we improve it?
What issues should we cover more? Less? Any good ideas? Tips? Good jokes?!
Positive or negative, we want to hear from you! We appreciate constructive criticism!
Send comments to mailto:[email protected] or call us at 410.929.7640.
INTERESTING BOOKS
An Idea Whose Time Has Come: Two Presidents, Two Parties, and the Battle for the
Civil Rights Act of 1964 by Todd S. Purdum. Macmillan, 2015. 432 pages. $18.00.
paperback. In Todd Purdum's gripping account of the passage of the Civil Rights Act of
1964, we can see, from nearly every angle, how the federal government began making
good on the 'promissory note' of equal rights that Dr. King had invoked at the March on
Washington. Purdum provides both an invaluable education in the political process and a keen
understanding of how personalities (the famous and the unsung) and the best of both parties overcame
every roadblock to 'make real the promises of democracy,' as Dr. King had challenged.
It's Not Over: Getting Beyond Tolerance, Defeating Homophobia, and Winning
True Equality by Michelangelo Signorile. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2015. 272
pages. hardcover. Signorile, one of the most incisive critics and influential activists
in the movement for gay equality, is an informative look at the movement and its
challenges. He shows the bigotry and bias in the media, the political establishment,
and in American culture - and "an illuminating, stirring plan of action to vanquish
it" (Glenn Greenwald, The London Guardian, author of No Place to Hide).
Public Housing Myths: Perception, Reality, and Social Policy by Nicholas Dagen
Bloom, Fritz Umbach, and Lawrence J. Vale (editors). Cornell University Press,
2015. 296 pages. $22.95. paperback. This is a collection of essays by historians and
social scientists about the "common wisdom" about public housing. It includes
eleven chapters by prominent scholars about popular preconceptions and myths
about the policies regarding public housing, the housing, and the people who live
there. They challenge the myths of inevitable decline, architectural determinism,
and rampant criminality that are part of the public's perception.
Time on Two Crosses: The Collected Writings of Bayard Rustin by Devin W.
Carbado and Don Weise (Editors), Barney Frank (Afterword), Barack Obama
(Foreword). Interesting collection of the writings of one of the leading civil rights
activists. As such, Time on Two Crosses offers an insider's view of many of the
defining political moments. The book includes Rustin's assessment of Gandhi's
impact on African Americans, white supremacists in Congress, and the
assassination of Malcolm X. It also has Rustin's never-before-published essays on
Louis Farrakhan, affirmative action, and the need for gay rights.
REST IN PEACE
The Rev. Willie T. Barrow, Civil Rights Advocate, 90. In the early
1970s, she helped the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. found Operation PUSH
- now the Rainbow PUSH Coalition - and succeeded him as executive
director. She later served as chairwoman, and was a strong advocate and
adversary as the organization fought for civil rights. Barrow conducted sit-ins and boycotts with many,
including the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks, and joined in the 1963 March on
Washington and the 1965 protests in Selma, Alabama. In recent years, she spoke up about gun
violence and the weakening of the Voting Rights Act. She said she learned by opening her home "to
all of the powerful women in the movement - Coretta Scott King, Dorothy Height, Addie Wyatt"
(Chicago Sun-Times, 2012). "We have to teach this generation, train more Corettas, more Addies,
more Dorothys. "If these youth don’t know whose shoulders they stand on, they’ll take us back to
slavery. And I believe that’s why the Lord is still keeping me here." Read the March 14, 2015 New
York Times obituary.
Anne Moody, Civil Rights Activist and Author, 74. Moody’s
1968 autobiography Coming of Age in Mississippi (Dell, 1992)
remains a noted volume in the library of first-person accounts
describing the inequality suffered by African Americans of her
era. The book recounted her upbringing in grinding poverty and
the experience of discrimination and violence that propelled her to
join the civil rights movement in the 1960s. Moody became a
student activist while attending Tougaloo College, a historically
black institution in Mississippi. she became a target for violence
by the Ku Klux Klan. Her face appeared on a “wanted” poster.
Moody graduated from Tougaloo and helped plan the events of
1964’s Freedom Summer. Read the February 9, 2015 Washington
Post Obituary.
A scene from the May 28, 1963, sitin at a Woolworth's lunch counter in
Jackson, Miss. Seated at the counter,
from left, are John Salter, Joan
Trumpauer, and Anne Moody.
Claude Sitton, Civil Rights Reporter, 89. His coverage of the civil rights
movement for the New York Times has been praised as a benchmark of
20th-century journalism. Sitton was often present at the beginning of
significant civil rights events, such as being on the first bus carrying
Freedom Riders out of Montgomery, Alabama, on May 24, 1961, as it
went toward Jackson, Mississippi. He often portrayed the struggle through
individuals who braved white mobs, brutal police officers, and
Sitton (on the right) covers
segregationist public officials to get an education or to vote."Nobody in the
the desegregation of the
news business would have as much impact as he would: on the reporting
Univ. of Georgia in 1961
of the civil rights movement, on the federal government’s response, or on
for the New York Times.
the movement itself. Sitton’s byline would be atop the stories that landed
on the desks of three presidents," according to Gene Roberts and Hank Klibanoff in their Pulitzer
Prize-winning The Race Beat: The Press, the Civil Rights Struggle and the Awakening of a Nation
(Vintage, 2006). For example, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy saw one of his 1962 articles
reporting a south Georgia sheriff and his deputies disrupting a voting rights meeting at a Terrell
County church and harassing the citizens. Two weeks later, Kennedy sent a Justice Department team
to Terrell County to sue the sheriff. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for commentary in 1983. Read
the March 10, 2015 New York Times Obituary.