Trump's discriminatory practices in the 1970's
By Cody Andrus
Donald Trump was sued by the U.S. Department of Justice in 1973 for refusing to rent to African American tenants, in violation of the Fair Housing Act of 1968. According to the lawsuit, Trump employed various tactics to exclude African American applicants, including marking their rental applications with a "C" for "colored" and steering them away from predominantly white buildings.
One incident came from the testimony of an African American woman who posed as a prospective tenant. After being told no apartments were available, her white counterpart visited the same building and was offered an immediate lease. Such cases built the foundation for the lawsuit, highlighting what the Justice Department called a "systematic" effort to exclude minority renters.
Though Trump denied the allegations, calling them "absolute nonsense," court documents and testimony from the era present a detailed picture of discriminatory practices. In 1975, the case was settled without admission of guilt but required Trump to agree to provide future rental listings to civil rights groups for review, ensuring non-discriminatory practices.
This lawsuit was one of the earliest public controversies surrounding Trump. While he maintained that he did nothing wrong, the settlement stipulated that Trump would adhere to anti-discrimination standards, raising questions about how far-reaching the practices had been.
NBC News, The Guardian, University of Pennsylvania Law Review, Department of Justice Archives.
