Epilogue
Landon and Shar were married a month after they finally declared their undying love for each other. Although Shar never went on the road again, she managed to record ten records and give birth to three baby girls in her lifetime.
With the money Landon raised, two families were able to purchase houses outside of the Black Belt. However, it was not until 1948 that Restrictive Covenants began to be toppled.
Actually the issue began in 1945, in neighboring St. Louis, Missouri. The Shelleys purchased a house in which a Restrictive Covenant barring Negroes from occupying property had been placed. The Shelleys weren’t aware of the Restrictive Covenant. However, Louis Kraemer, a white man who lived ten blocks away from the property, sued to restrain the Shelleys from living in the home they had purchased. The case went all the way to the Supreme Court. And then finally, in 1948, the Supreme Court ruled that the Fourteenth Amendment prohibits a state from enforcing restrictive covenants that would prohibit a person from owning or occupying property simply based on race or color.
Even though the case took place in St. Louis rather than in Chicago, Landon and the entire Black Belt community shouted the victory because what they believed was finally coming to pass. Landon stood before his congregation the Sunday after the Supreme Court rulings and said, “Brothers and sisters, the day is coming . . . we will soon live in a world where a man is free to buy property wherever he can afford. Now, how sweet does that sound?”