Atlanta Through the Archives

Buchanan v. Warley

Summary

Buchanan, a black homebuyer, is denied a property purchase by Warley, a white homeowner in Louisville, Kentucky. The city of Louisville had a city-wide ordinance to “prevent conflict and ill-feeling between the white and colored races in the city of Louisville…[with] the use of separate blocks” for residential areas. A section of the ordinance made it unlawful for black residents to move into a neighborhood with majority-white residences. Because Warley’s neighborhood had eight of its ten homes occupied by white families, Buchanan was denied the home. The Court found the Louisville ordinance was unconstitutional and violated the Fourteenth Amendment through state interference in personal property.

SOURCES:

Buchanan v. Warley, 245 U.S. 60, 38 S. Ct. 16 (1917).