In the August 23rd, 1955 edition of the Stars and Stripes newspaper, a sewing machine executive and former Long Beach resident, James F. Collins, offers to sell his home in Los Cerritos to Dr. Sammy Lee. Lee has been turned down twice in his effort to buy a home in Garden Grove because of a “racial restriction” covering the sale. Collins said he moved to Honolulu in 1950 because he was “damned sick and tired of seeing such bigotry practiced. He went on, “I’m so ashamed of such goings on on the mainland.”
James F. Collins was born in 1896 in Nebraska. He lived with his family in San Bernardino For a good portion of his adult life he lived in Long Beach until he “got fed up” and moved to Hawaii. In the 1940 census James F. Collins, a sales manager for a sewing machine company and his family living on Appleton Street in Long Beach. James’ son James served in the U.S. Navy and was discharged in November 1945. At that time, he listed his home address as 3839 Chestnut Street and his father and the rest of his family were still at the Chestnut Street address in 1950. Sometime between 1950 and 1955, James moved his family to Hawaii.
It is no uncommon if you research the prior deeds for sales of your home to find racial covenants. I found them in the early deeds for my own home in Los Cerritos. In fact, it is quite possible that they were in place in the older deeds for the home that James’s offered to sell to Dr. Lee and he was unaware. When I went to the Hall of Records in Norwalk, CA, researching the history of my house, I obtained a copy of an original deed that included racial covenants. The old deed was not altered consistent with today’s law. Rather, a page was stapled on top of the deed that the racial covenants are illegal. The title insurance policy for my Los Cerritos home has language specifically deleting any covenants based on race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status or national origin.
The Stars and Stripes newspaper is published daily by the U.S. military for U.S. military stationed overseas and their families.
