FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 7, 2014
CONTACT: Rusty Kennedy 714-567-7470
OC Human Relations’ Legacy Awards to Honor Orange County’s Civil Rights Heroes on May 8
*Commemorating 50th Anniversary of the Civil Rights Act*
In December, 1964, Dorothy Mulkey, an African American Orange County resident, challenged Proposition 14 after a Santa Ana landlord refused to rent a vacant apartment to her family. The ACLU took the Mulkey v. Reitman case all the way to the United States Supreme Court, and in 1967 the court declared Prop 14 unconstitutional. Landlords no longer could refuse to rent to people because of their skin color, religion or ethnicity.
Robert Johnson has been deeply involved in advocacy for fair housing in Orange County since 1966. He worked tirelessly for almost three decades to eliminate segregation of African Americans in the county through the Orange County Fair Housing Council and co-founded the Orange County Community Housing Corporation in 1978 to provide housing for extremely low-income people.
Mulkey and Johnson will receive one of 10 awards to be presented by OC Human Relations at The Legacy Awards: Honoring Orange County’s Civil Rights Heroes on Thursday, May 8 at The City National Grove of Anaheim. Continue reading
