Harold I. Kahen, Civil Rights and Corporate Lawyer, Dies at 101

by Reagan Tobias

Harold Kahen, who played an instrumental role in creating the legal argument which ended racially restrictive covenants, passed away on March 30, 2020, in New York City from possible COVID-19 complications at the age of 101. Mr. Kahen’s groundbreaking legal argument, written when he was only 27, assisted NAACP lawyers in arguing that judicial enforcement of racially restrictive covenants was a violation of the Equal Protection Clause, essentially ending the practice of restrictive covenants. In addition to his virtually unknown civil rights work, Mr. Kahen’s hard work and dedication to his legal craft led him to becoming a celebrated New York corporate lawyer.

Mr. Kahen was born in Chicago, Illinois on August 14, 1918. His father, Gabriel Kahen and mother, Jennie, emigrated from Russia in 1905. After Mr. Kahen’s birth his parents settled in the West Side of Chicago in the neighborhood of North Lawndale. Mr. Kahen and his sister, Florence Kahen grew up in an industrial neighborhood that was home to McCormick Reaper Works and Sears. By the time the Kahens had settled in the area, North Lawndale was home to a large population of Eastern European Jewish immigrants and by the time Mr. Kahen was twelve, half of North Lawndale’s residents were Russian Jews. The area was dotted with Synagogues and social and community services and was the center of Chicago’s Jewish community. Mr. Kahen grew up surrounded by neighbors that shared his faith and instilled in him the importance of bettering the community.

Mr. Kahen attended Harrison Technical High School in Chicago, Illinois. Throughout his time at Harrison, Mr. Kahen was very involved in his school’s community and was a member of many student organizations. Mr. Kahen was a part of the League of Nations, the Honor Society, Student Forum, and the Stamp Club. He also held leadership positions in his school. Mr. Kahen was a Chairman for his Harrison’s student executive body: The Student Leader’s Round Table, which was involved in bettering both the school and the community. Mr. Kahen was a part of Harrison High’s city-wide cleanup team and was the chairman for the ways and means committee in 1933. In addition to being a part of these community improvement groups, Mr. Kahen was the secretary of the Physical Science Club and Captain of the Hall Guards. Mr. Kahen’s commitment to leadership and his hardworking attitude can be seen throughout his life as he went on to hold other leadership positions later in his life, such as Vice President of The New York Metropolitan Region United Synagogue of America and as a member of the board of his synagogue.

In 1938, Mr. Kahen graduated from the University of Chicago with a Bachelor of Arts and from the University of Chicago Law School in 1940. After graduating with a law degree, he worked as a special assistant to Federal Circuit Court Judge, Evan A. Evans. However, with World War II looming, Mr. Kahen enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1942. By 1945 he was stationed at Camp Ellis, Illinois. While stationed there, the University of Chicago Law Review published his article, “Validity of Anti-Negro Restrictive Covenants: A Reconsideration of the Problem.” Mr. Kahen’s article helped to inform the legal argument of Shelley’s lawyers in the 1948 Supreme Court case, Shelley v. Kraemer, and of the associated cases Sipes v. McGhee, Hurd v. Hodge, and Hurd v. Urciolo. The rulings ended judicial enforcement of racially restrictive convents.

Racially restrictive covenants were private agreements entered into by white neighbors to prevent racial and ethnic minorities from purchasing homes in their neighborhoods. White neighbors signed a legal contract agreeing not to sell their homes to a person of color and to specify on their home’s deed that the home could only be bought by a white person. Judicial action had repeatedly upheld covenants because they were private agreements, principally in the case Corrigan v. Buckley, from 1926. However, Mr. Kahen’s article argued that the upholding of covenants by the judicial system was state sanctioned discrimination and therefore violated the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause. Mr. Kahen also argued that the social cost of covenants was severe and urged the courts to address the problem. His arguments offered both an innovative and original argument to be used by Shelley’s lawyers when the case reached the Supreme Court. The Shelleys had originally been prevented from purchasing a home in the Kraemers’ neighborhood after the judicial enforcement of a racial covenant. The Shelleys appealed the decision all the way to the Supreme Court, which was to hear the case in 1948.

Mr. Kahen’s work brought him the attention of the NAACP, which was assisting the Shelley family in their suit. In September of 1947, Mr. Kahen attended an NAACP conference in New York which had been convened by Thurgood Marshall and Charles Hamilton Houston to craft a strong legal argument challenging the constitutionality of racially restrictive covenants. Mr. Kahen was vocal at the conference and discussed his belief that covenants were damaging to the social well-being of African Americans. He advocated for sociological research that explored the social cost of covenants that could be published and utilized by lawyers fighting restrictive covenants. Mr. Kahen agreed to be a part of the 9-person committee whose task was to create a document that outlined the social and economic effects of covenants. The committee produced the largest amount of sociological data that had ever been used in a Civil Rights case. In addition to his committee work, Mr. Kahen filed an amicus curiae brief in support of Shelley family and worked pro-bono for the NAACP during this time. Kahen’s argument proved to be successful. The court ruled that private covenants could exist but courts could not enforce these documents without violating the Equal Protection Clause, which effectively ended the practice racially restrictive covenants. Mr. Kahen’s influence cannot be overstated. His legal work provided the NAACP with a groundbreaking legal argument that helped to end racially restrictive covenants.

While assisting the NAACP, Mr. Kahen was a newlywed. Kahen married Florence Gold on November 2, 1946. The two had three children, David Kahen, the late Daniel Kahen, and Deborah Kayman. Mr. Kahen’s son, David Kahen, recalls biking around their neighborhood with his father and exploring and helping his father with projects around the house. David remembers his father as having an “inquisitive mind” and was a “perfectionist” who expected the best from himself and those who worked with him. These qualities helped Mr. Kahen in his career and brought him recognition in the legal community. Mr. Kahen was a member of The Association of the Bar of the City of New York on the Committee on Law Reform from 1955-1958 and the Committee on Securities Regulation from 1962-1966 and on the New York State Committee on Corporations from 1976-1984.

In his adult life, Mr. Kahen was still deeply involved with his community and faith. Rabbi Jonathan Waxman, the son of a lifelong friend of Mr. Kahen, remembers Mr. Kahen at holiday meals and his refusal to let a snowstorm stop him from attending the Rabbi’s wedding. David Kahen, described his father as “a presence” and a person who people tended not to forget after meeting him. Mr. Kahen certaintly made a mark on every community he was a part of. During his long life, Mr. Kahen left his mark on the civil rights movement, his high school, his Jewish community, and on everyone who knew him. Mr. Kahen is buried in Montefiore Cemetery in Queens, New York.