George L. Vaughn
{{Short description|American jurist}}
George L. Vaughn (circa 1880 – August 24, 1949) was an American lawyer and judge active in St. Louis, Missouri.{{Cite web|title=Vaughn, George L. | url=https://nkaa.uky.edu/nkaa/items/show/1825 | access-date=2021-07-25 | website=Notable Kentucky African Americans Database |publisher=University of Kentucky}} As a lawyer, he was involved in a prominent civil rights case involving housing discrimination, most notably Shelley v. Kraemer, in which the eviction of an African American family from a white neighborhood was upheld by the Missouri Supreme Court but subsequently overruled by the U.S. Supreme Court.{{Cite web|last=Ruffin II|first=Herbert G. |date=2007-01-23|title=George L. Vaughan (1885-1950) | website=BlackPast.org| url=https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/vaughan-george-l-1885-1950/|access-date=2021-07-25|language=en-US}}
Biography
He was born in Kentucky. He studied at Lane College and law at Walden University. He became a First Lieutenant in World War I.{{Cite journal|date=1949-10-01|title=George L. Vaughn|url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/JNHv34n4p490|journal=The Journal of Negro History|volume=34|issue=4|pages=490–491|doi=10.1086/JNHv34n4p490|s2cid=224838470|issn=0022-2992|url-access=subscription}}
Vaughn helped found the Citizens Liberty League in 1919 to help identify and elect more African Americans to public office. He was appointed Justice of the Peace for the 4th District of St. Louis in 1936. He was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention.{{Cite web|title=St. Louis Historic Preservation|url=https://dynamic.stlouis-mo.gov/history/peopledetail.cfm?Master_ID=1145|access-date=2021-07-25|website=dynamic.stlouis-mo.gov}}
Vaughn was part of the Mound City Bar Association of African American lawyers. The American Bar Association did not admit African Americans. He served as the group's first president. Vaughn was appointed Assistant Attorney General in Missouri.{{Cite book|last1=Johnson|first1=Charles Spurgeon|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WoHXAAAAMAAJ&q=george+l.+vaughn|title=Opportunity|last2=Carter|first2=Elmer Anderson|date=1941|publisher=National Urban League|language=en}}
The George L. Vaughn Public Housing Project, a 660 unit complex, was posthumously named in Vaughn's honor in 1957.
He and his wife had two daughters and a son George L. Vaughn Jr.{{Cite web|title=18 Aug 1949, Page 21 - St. Louis Post-Dispatch at Newspapers.com|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/?clipping_id=8400014&fcfToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJmcmVlLXZpZXctaWQiOjEzODMyMTAwNywiaWF0IjoxNjI3MjQ5NjA4LCJleHAiOjE2MjczMzYwMDh9.XhnsIcoj582iuvm0YcaCNyGnVu8W0LvGs7tKbRHKx8M|access-date=2021-07-25|website=Newspapers.com|language=en}} His son was also a lawyer.{{Cite web|title=Vaughn v. State Bar|url=https://law.justia.com/cases/california/supreme-court/3d/9/698.html|access-date=2021-07-25|website=Justia Law|language=en}}
References
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Category:Military personnel from Kentucky
Category:Lawyers from St. Louis
Category:United States Army officers
Category:United States Army personnel of World War I
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