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Committee on Human Rights annual reports, 1963-1967, 1992-2009

1963-09-09 -- 1964-09-04 First Annual Report Of The Iowa City Human Relations Commission Page 3

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very real need to involve other groups within the Community in the work of the Commission. This survey took hundreds of man hours in planning, execution and analysis. Without the tireless effort of many people, and especially the League of Women Voters, this survey would not have been accomplished.
B) [Underline]Cases of Discrimination[End Underline] - Three cases of possible discrimination (all in the area of housing) were reported to the Commission. On October 29, 1963, a case of possible discrimination was reported to the Commission, involving a trailer court which, according to the complaining party, reneged on its agreement to allow the parties to rent the trailer which was available because they suspected that the party was a Negro. The full details of this case are most complicated and the final report on this case, as received by Commission, is attached to the end of this report. The Commission's general conclusion was twofold: a) There very possibly was discrimination here b) the complaining party was partly at fault because of the tactics he employed which made it practically impossible for the Commission to effect any harmony or conciliation between the parties. It was also the conclusion of the Commission that persons filing complaints of discrimination should try to do this before the situation has progressed to the point where conciliation is either no longer possible or not necessary.
The second case of possible discrimination was presented to the Commission by the City Council itself. This again involved a trailer and was further complicated by the location of the trailer in an area which put the occupant in violation of the Iowa City Zoning Ordinance. The occupant was a Negro, and had not been able to find available space in any trailer courts. His feeling was that he could not obtain space elsewhere because he was a Negro. The outcome of this case was that the two-man committee appointed by the Commission found an

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-3- very real need to involve other groups within the Community in the work of the Commission. This survey took hundreds of man hours in planning, execution and analysis. Without the tireless effort of many people, and especially the League of Women Voters, this survey would not have been accomplished. B) [Underline]Cases of Discrimination[End Underline] - Three cases of possible discrimination (all in the area of housing) were reported to the Commission. On October 29, 1963, a case of possible discrimination was reported to the Commission, involving a trailer court which, according to the complaining party, reneged on its agreement to allow the parties to rent the trailer which was available because they suspected that the party was a Negro. The full details of this case are most complicated and the final report on this case, as received by Commission, is attached to the end of this report. The Commission's general conclusion was twofold: a) There very possibly was discrimination here b) the complaining party was partly at fault because of the tactics he employed which made it practically impossible for the Commission to effect any harmony or conciliation between the parties. It was also the conclusion of the Commission that persons filing complaints of discrimination should try to do this before the situation has progressed to the point where conciliation is either no longer possible or not necessary. The second case of possible discrimination was presented to the Commission by the City Council itself. This again involved a trailer and was further complicated by the location of the trailer in an area which put the occupant in violation of the Iowa City Zoning Ordinance. The occupant was a Negro, and had not been able to find available space in any trailer courts. His feeling was that he could not obtain space elsewhere because he was a Negro. The outcome of this case was that the two-man committee appointed by the Commission found an