Carl and Shirley Hessell: My First Fair Housing Act Case of Racial Discrimination
- Donald V. Watkins
- 6 days ago
- 3 min read
By: Donald V. Watkins
Copyrighted on July 2, 2026
In August 1974, Carl and Shirley Hessell, a Black married couple, filed a $200,000 racial discrimination lawsuit in federal court against Charles Harris, Jr., and Mead and Charles, Inc., a Montgomery, Alabama real estate company after their application to rent an apartment at 2142 Madison Avenue, in Montgomery was rejected. The apartment was in the “White" part of town. This was my first Fair Housing Act case.
The Hessells had stellar credit and successful professional backgrounds. Carl, from Evergreen, Alabama, was also a student at Alabama State University. They claimed the defendants denied their rental application because of their race, in violation of the Fair Housing Act of 1968.
Mead and Charles gave the Hessells a key to inspect the vacant apartment unit. After their visit, the Hessells filled out an application to rent the apartment. They were told their application would be submitted to the apartment owner (Charles Harris, Jr.). A day or so later, the Hessells were told the owner did not wish to rent the apartment to blacks.
In September 1974, U.S. District Judge Robert Varner denied the defendants’ motion to dismiss. In January 1975, Varner denied their motion for a summary judgment in their favor.
By March 1974, the defendants threw in the towel. They paid Carl and Shirley a confidential sum of money and agreed to a ban against future acts of housing discrimination against black applicants.
Housing Discrimination was/is a Nationwide Problem for Black Americans
Despite the Fair Housing Act, housing discrimination based upon race was rampant in all parts of the U.S. in the 1970s, and remains a huge problem today.
Three of the biggest practitioners of the kind of racial discrimination in housing experienced by Calvin and Shirley Hessell were Donald Trump, his father Fred Trump, and Trump Management (their real estate management firm in New York City).
In October 1973, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) sued Donald Trump, Fred Trump, and Trump Management for engaging in the same acts of racially motivated housing discrimination in New York during the 1970s, in violation of the Fair Housing Act.
The DOJ alleged that Trump Management systematically excluded African Americans and Puerto Ricans from renting apartments in their predominantly white buildings.
Federal officials and local civil rights groups used "testers"—both Black and white individuals with similar financial and professional backgrounds—who were sent to Trump properties to inquire about vacancies. The government found that Black testers were frequently told no apartments were available, while white testers were offered leases.
Evidence in government filings alleged that Trump employees used a secret coding system to distinguish the race of applicants, reportedly marking applications from prospective Black renters with a "C" (for Colored).
Minority applicants were allegedly steered away from heavily white properties toward buildings that already had higher minority populations.
Donald Trump, who was president of Trump Management at the time, strongly denied the accusations, calling them "ridiculous," and countersued the Justice Department for $100 million for defamation (which was dismissed).
On June 10, 1975, the Trump defendants and the DOJ agreed to the entry of a Consent Decree in the case. The Decree permanently enjoining Donald Trump and those in privity with him from engaging in any discriminatory practices prohibited by the Fair Housing Act. Trump was also ordered to implement an affirmative program to promote equal housing opportunity. The principal officers of Trump Management, Inc. were ordered to acquaint themselves personally and in detail with Trump's obligations under the Consent Decree and the various fair housing laws, and to assure themselves that their subordinates similarly understood their responsibilities.
Donald Trump continued to engaged in racially-motivated housing discrimination after agreeing to stop it. On March 7, 1978, DOJ filed a motion for further relief in the case. The case languished in the federal court until it was officially closed on April 22, 1982.
After he became president in January 2025, Donald Trump issued a series of executive orders aimed at gutting federal enforcement of the Fair Housing Act.