Last updated: October 19, 2022
Person
Earl B. Dickerson
Public domain. Courtesy Library of Congress.
Quick Facts
Significance:
African American lawyer, businessman, and civil rights activist
Place of Birth:
Canton, Mississippi
Date of Birth:
June 22, 1891
Place of Death:
Chicago, Illinois
Date of Death:
September 1, 1986
Place of Burial:
Alsip, Illinois
Cemetery Name:
Burr Oak Cemetery
Earl B. Dickerson was a boundary-breaking lawyer, businessman, and civil rights leader. He worked simultaneously on many projects to advance his goal of racial equality. During the 1940s alone, Dickerson completed a term as a Chicago alderman; chaired President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Fair Employment Practices Committee; served in national leadership of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP); and argued a landmark case against racial discrimination in housing before the Supreme Court. His lifelong efforts to eliminate social, economic, and political barriers for African Americans intersected with several civil rights milestones during the 20th century.
Early Life and Education
Earl Dickerson was born in Canton, Mississippi on June 22, 1891. With his family’s encouragement, he boarded a train to Chicago in 1907, hoping to escape racial oppression and violence in the American South.
As a Black man, Dickerson encountered many racial barriers throughout his life. He was an excellent student but was often the only Black person in his classes. He also worked multiple jobs to support himself and pay his tuition at elite preparatory schools and universities in Illinois. Yet the high cost of schooling repeatedly disrupted Dickerson’s education, forcing him to switch schools and take time off. In 1914, he earned his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Illinois, at Urbana-Champaign and went on to pursue his law degree at the University of Chicago.
When the United States entered World War I in 1917, Dickerson left law school to enlist in the army. He was commissioned as a First Lieutenant in the 365th Infantry and later Second Lieutenant in the 92nd Division in France. He served in combat and as a French interpreter. Dickerson was proud of his service but resented the segregation of the military. In 1919, he created a petition for Black officers to protest the second-class treatment of Black troops during their return voyage from Europe. Years later, he remarked: “I’m the sort of a fellow who just never could be satisfied with the status quo, who could never be content with the way things were.”[1]
Dickerson’s experience with racism in the military motivated his pursuit of civil rights at home. When he returned to Chicago, he co-founded the American Legion, a national veterans’ organization, and established an African American chapter. In 1920, he became the first African American to earn a degree from the University of Chicago Law School. But Dickerson continued to experience racism at restaurants and other businesses, as well as when he searched for jobs. The Law School’s dean recommended him to three of the city’s top firms, but they all rejected him because he was Black.
Law, Politics, and Business
Dickerson’s rejection from white firms only propelled him. He took on new pursuits in law, politics, and business—often at the same time—to fight racism and exclusion on multiple fronts. Within his first year out of law school, Dickerson started his own practice, volunteered his legal guidance to the new Liberty Life Insurance Company, and pursued professional opportunities to support other Black lawyers. These opportunities provided connections and resources that benefited his other endeavors.
Between 1939 and 1943, Dickerson served as alderman of the Second Ward in Chicago, representing much of the city’s African American population on the South Side. Dickerson encouraged Black voters to operate independently from party politics and leverage their influence among both Democrats and Republicans. These efforts clashed with the machine-dominated politics of Chicago and Dickerson lost the Democratic Party’s support after his first and only term.
During the early 1900s, racial tensions intensified in Chicago as the city received an influx of African American migrants from the American South. Despite the growing number of Black families who needed housing, many white firms refused to offer mortgages or insurance to Black people. To meet the community’s need for housing, jobs, and other services, Black Americans started their own companies, including Liberty Life. Dickerson was drawn to the company’s ethos to build itself around African American men, because white employers often limited the career prospects of Black workers. Once the company was licensed, he became its general counsel and director.
Over the course of his career, Dickerson helped the company to become profitable. In 1929, he coordinated its merger with two other companies to form the Supreme Liberty Life Insurance Company of Chicago. Dickerson’s skill as a businessman catapulted Supreme Liberty into one of the largest Black-owned life insurance companies in the U.S.[2] He was elected president and chief executive officer (CEO) in 1955.
Hansberry v. Lee
African Americans also responded to housing discrimination by raising legal challenges to racist laws. In 1940, Dickerson argued the most important case of his career. Hansberry v. Lee was the first case to successfully challenge racially restrictive housing covenants before the Supreme Court. In property law, a “covenant” is a condition that is tied to land ownership or use. When white homeowners entered a covenant, they agreed not to sell, lease, or rent their properties to Black people or other minorities within a designated residential area. Housing covenants were one of the main mechanisms used to segregate cities in the northern United States.
Dickerson led the legal team representing Carl Hansberry, a board member of the Chicago NAACP. In 1937, Dickerson helped Hansberry to secure a mortgage for a home in the Chicago neighborhood Woodlawn, even though it was subject to a housing covenant. Both men knew that white residents would attempt to enforce the covenant, but Dickerson believed that Hansberry stood a good chance of challenging and defeating it. When white neighbors sought an injunction against Hansberry to force his family to move, the case went to court. This experience inspired Hansberry's daughter Lorraine Hansberry to write A Raisin in the Sun.[3]
When an Illinois judge ruled against Hansberry, he appealed to the Illinois Supreme Court and eventually to the U.S. Supreme Court. Dickerson skillfully argued Hansberry’s case before the U.S. Supreme Court and convinced them to strike down the Woodlawn housing covenant. According to the Chicago Defender, the ruling was significant because it made “approximately 500 additional parcels of property” available to Black residents “relieving the housing congestion on the South side of Chicago where most of the colored people reside.”[4] Although the decision was based on a technicality, it paved the way to eliminate racial housing covenants throughout the United States.
Fair Employment Practices Committee
Dickerson rose to national prominence for his record as a Chicago alderman, his success in Hansberry v. Lee, and his leadership of civil rights organizations, including the NAACP and National Urban League. Because of these achievements, President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Dickerson to the first Fair Employment Practices Committee (FEPC) in 1941. The FEPC was created to investigate discrimination cases and recommend how Executive Order 8802, which prohibited discrimination based on “race, creed, color, or national origin,” in U.S. defense industries, should be enforced.
Dickerson convinced the FEPC to take a more active role in eliminating workplace discrimination. At his urging, the committee held public hearings across the country. In addition to publicizing the executive order, the hearings allowed the committee to directly listen and respond to discrimination allegations where they originated. But the committee’s progress was slow due to inconsistent support from the Roosevelt administration. White Southern Democrats, who made up a significant part of Roosevelt’s base, perceived Dickerson’s unwavering commitment to racial equality as a threat to segregation.
Frustrated by this dynamic, Dickerson moved forward and scheduled new hearings without approval from the president or the War Manpower Commission. He also continued to speak out and demand that Roosevelt fully enforce Executive Order 8802. Although these actions were insubordinate, Dickerson successfully mounted public pressure against the president. As a result, Roosevelt created a second FEPC with increased authority in 1943. Despite this victory, Dickerson was the only remaining member of the original FEPC who the president did not reappoint.
Later Life and Legacy
Dickerson continued to advocate for fair employment and equal opportunity through his leadership of the National Urban League and NAACP. Within the NAACP, he served as chair of the Legal Redress Committee, organizer of the Legal Defense Fund, and national board member for thirty years. In 1963, he also appeared on stage with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and A. Philip Randolph at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.
Dickerson retired as president and CEO of Supreme Liberty Life Insurance Company in 1971. He continued to serve as Chairman of the Board of Directors until 1973 and as Director until 1977. Dickerson died at his apartment in Hyde Park on September 1, 1986.
Notes
[1] Terry Wilson, “Rights Leader Earl Dickerson,” Chicago Tribune, September 4, 1986, ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Chicago Tribune.
[2] The Liberty Life/Supreme Life Insurance Company Building was designated as a Chicago Landmark in 1998. It is also one of nine properties in the Black Metropolis Thematic Nomination, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.
[3] The Lorraine Hansberry House was designated as a Chicago Landmark on February 10, 2010. Hansberry's residence in New York City, where she penned A Raisin in the Sun, was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2021.
[4] Enoc P. Waters, Jr., “Hansberry Decree Opens 500 New Homes to Race,” Chicago Defender, November 23, 1940, ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Chicago Defender.
Bibliography
Blakely, Robert J. Earl B. Dickerson: A Voice for Freedom and Equality. With Marcus Shepard. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 2006.
Ingham, John N. and Lynne B. Feldman. “Dickerson, Earl Burrus, et al.” African-American Business Leaders: A Biographical Dictionary, 198-220. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1994.
University of Chicago Library. “Biography.” Earl B. Dickerson Research Guide. https://guides.lib.uchicago.edu/dickerson.
Chicago Public Library. “Biographical Note.” Earl B. Dickerson papers. https://www.chipublib.org/fa-earl-b-dickerson-papers/.
The content for this article was researched and written by Jade Ryerson, an intern with the Cultural Resources Office of Interpretation and Education.