"Clyde Ross & the Contract Buyers League"

Was a collective of African American Chicago homeowners originating of North

Lawndale  on Chicago's West Side,who in the late 1960s protested the exploitative sale of homes to African Americans through contract selling.When Clyde,Mattie Lewis,and Ethel Weatherspoon settled in the West-side neighborhood of North Lawndale,they hoped to achieve the American dream of owning a home.At the time,federal policies known as redining prevented African Americans from getting real mortgages,forcing them to buy from real-estates speculators "on contract."The contracts,homeowners soon discovered,turned out to be a scam.Clyde,moved to North Lawndale in 1958,buying a house "on contract" for $27,000 after being denied a legitimate mortgage.The seller,who had bought the house only a few months earlier for $12,000,sold Clyde the house on the conidition that if he missed a single payment,he would lose the house and all the payments made toward it.Clyde was one of hundreds in his neighborhood who were scammed by real-estate speculators at the time.In 1968,he joined the Contract Buyers League to Fight the contract sellers.