Home > West's Encyclopedia of American Law > Vaughn, George L.

George L. Vaughn was an African American lawyer and civic leader who became a prominent member of the DEMOCRATIC PARTY. Vaughn, who practiced in St. Louis, Missouri, is best remembered for representing J. D. Shelley in the landmark CIVIL RIGHTS case of Shelley v. Kraemer, 334 U.S. 1, 68 S. Ct. 836, 92 L. Ed. 1161 (1948), which struck down racially discriminatory real estate covenants.

Vaughn was born in Kentucky in 1885, the son of former slaves. He attended Lane College in Jackson, Tennessee, and went to law school at Walden University in Nashville, Tennessee. He served in the artillery as a first lieutenant in WORLD WAR I. After the war he moved to St. Louis, where he practiced law and, in 1919, helped to...