The Restrictive Covenant Cases and the Making of the Civil Rights Movement

In Unjust Deeds: The Restrictive Covenant Cases and the Making of the Civil Rights Movement, Jeffrey Gonda ’05 tells the story of six African American families who fought against the restrictive covenant system designed to maintain housing segregation under Jim Crow. Culminating in a landmark Supreme Court victory, their fight proved foundational to legal activism in the fight for civil rights. Gonda is an assistant professor of history at Syracuse University.