Hansberry House

Category: Housing

In 1937, Carl A. Hansberry defied the Woodlawn Property Owners' Association by purchasing this home in a one-square mile area of Washington Park. Known as the "white island," this area of Woodlawn was blanketed by restrictive covenants. Anna Lee, a white signatory of a covenant, sued Hansberry. While the Circuit Court and State Supreme Court of Illinois ruled in favor of Lee, the United States Supreme Court reversed the decision in the 1940 Hansberry v Lee case, making restrictive covenants no longer legally enforceable across the United States.