Born in Cooke county Illonois on June 4, 1921, Perry Holloway Hansberry, like his father Carl, was a fearless fighter for equal rights. Perry was so passionate and fearless about African Americans receiving equal treatment in the U.S. that at the age of 23, he protested racial discrimination and segregation in the military draft and in military duty by filing suit against the U.S. Government.

Because of the nature of the case, the President of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was named as a defendant, and a hearing took place to determine if this action could be allowed. (Civil Action Case 44C720, Perry Hansberry vs. Franklin D. Roosevelt, Commander in Chief of the U.S. Army and Navy, et al)

According to (The Nebraska State Journal) Lincoln Journal, July 15, 1944, “The injunction was issued Thursday (1944) by Federal Judge Philip L. Sullivan, pending a hearing on whether the president should be dismissed as a defendant. In granting the injunction Sullivan held that only the U.S. senate and house of representatives have jurisdiction over the person of the president, who with selective service officials was named as a defendant.” The U.S marshal was restrained from serving a summons on the president.

As a retaliation to the Hansberrys outspoken and aggressive legal fight against the powerful U.S. Government, many years of legal conflict and suits were directed against the Hansberry family and its thriving business by the local and national government.

  Back to The Hansberry Family