In the 18th and 19th century ownership of land granted men many benefits in society. Owning a home gave a man unprecedented authority over others who could not afford such a luxury. Even better than owning a home was choosing where you wanted to live. Unfortunately before Shelley v. Kramer, "colored" people, no matter how wealthy they were, were pretty much forced to live where society or "Jim Crow" made them which was in urban areas. Essentially, blacks were not only barred from white, suburban areas, but a white family would not be granted a home loan in a poorer, nonwhite neighborhood because it was a bad investment risk for the bank. The usage of restricted racial covenants and redlining simply generated the self-concerning racial stereotype of why blacks and whites shouldn't live together.
When the Shelley's move from Texas to a restricted racial covenant Missouri neighborhood they were forced to leave their home. The Shelley's immediately took their case to court and the court ruled in favor of the black family. Only to be stopped for a brief moment, the Shelley's case was overturned by the Missouri Supreme Court. When the case went to the national scale the end result was an enormous victory for the equal rights movement. The decision in Shelly v. Kramer overturned Corrigan v. Buckley and furthermore outlawed restricted racial covenants. Even though the law stated blacks or Jews could live where they please, the next 20 years were still a struggle, but the case of Shelly v. Kramer was the stepping stone to getting equal rights where it is today.
2 - Brown v. Board of Education.
Now that hardworking minorities could live where they pleased, they moved on to improving the equality of their children's lives. On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court unanimously declared that separate educational facilities are inherently "unequal" and, as such, violate the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which guarantees all citizens "equal protection of the laws.
