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Lillian Gobitis Case Study

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Lillian Gobitits v. Minersville School District: Walter Gobitis was a converted Jehovah's Witnesses. He did not push this religion upon his kids. His children are Lillian and William Gobitis. They chose to not salute the flag on their own, after they listened to Joseph F. Rutherford, leader of the American Witness. Joseph said: “Witnesses do not ‘Hail Hitler’ or any other creature” (page 16). Afterwards the kids were bullied and teased. A local church also took action against the Gobitis family and boycotted Walter Gobitis’ General Store. Charles E. Roudabush, Minersville School Superintendent, expelled Lillian and William Gobitis for “Failure to salute the flag in our school exercise.” Judge Albert B. Maris was the Gobitis’ lawyer. He found …show more content…

and Ethel Lee Shelley moved into their new home with their six children at 4600 Labadie Avenue, with the help from their pastor, Robert Bishop. Just a few days later, they received and eviction notice from Louis and Fern Kraemer. The Shelleys had apparently unlawfully purchased a building which was “covered” by restrictive racial covenant. The growing use of racial covenants to maintain residential apartheid led the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People to begin, in 1922, a legal campaign against their enforcement. “The issue is much broader than that of simply preventing discrimination against negroes,” the NAACP noted in 1930, “for already such restrictive covenants have been used against Jews and Catholics.” Thurgood Marshall, NAACP special counsel, guided the attending lawyers toward a coordinated legal campaign in courts around the country, designed to force the Supreme Court to accept on or more cases for decision. William K. Koerner was appointed judge of the case. George Vaughn argued against the covenant. He pointed out that there are five houses on the block had been occupied by blacks and nice out of the thirty-nine owners on the block in 1911 had failed to sign the document. Judge Koerner’s refused to enforce the covenant against the Shelleys because of the nine initial owners did not sign. In December of 1946, the Missouri Supreme Court reversed Judge Koerners’ decision. Judge James N. Douglas held that “the agreement by its terms intended to cover only the property of those owners who signed it.” “it must have been their intention to prevent greatly increases occupancy by

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