Greater Toledo Realtist Association

NAREB® was formed in 1947 by African American real estate professionals out of a need to secure the right to equal housing opportunities, regardless of race, creed or color. For more than 60 years, NAREB® has participated in meaningful legal challenges and has supported legislative initiatives that ensure the availability of fair and affordable housing for all Americans.

Although comprised primarily of African Americans, the REALTISTS® organization is an integrated entity, open to qualified practitioners of all races who are interested in achieving the ideals of the REALTISTS® theme “Democracy in Housing” for all.

After World War II, the nation found itself facing a mood of deep seated social segregation it could no longer tolerate or afford. Yet, the South confidently proclaimed itself to be the new plus ultra (uppermost limits ) of Southern tolerance. Thus, was born the Civil Rights movement- a period of the most difficult but necessary struggle to topple the crumbling walls segregation had erected between Americans who had fought- and died together.

The postwar years indeed gave African Americans inspiration, confidence, strength and hope for a better America. The United Nations had been formed, and Ralph J. Bunche had become the United Nations Division Trustee. African Americans were gaining better paying jobs, and the Supreme Court had finally passed a ruling that restrictive covenants and private agreement to exclude persons of designated race from the ownership of real property were not enforceable under the law.

Although the lives of African Americans were now changing for the good and a few victories had been won, schools were still segregated under the “separate but equal” theory — and equal housing had yet to become a reality. This is what drove the men and women who met in Tampa, Florida, on the sweltering night of July 29, 1947, to form the National Association of Real Estate Brokers- NAREB.

These twelve pioneers, one woman and eleven men hailing from seven states across the country, are NAREB’S recognized founders:

Nannie Black, Detroit, MI

Macco Crutcher, Detroit, MI

Carleton Gains, Detroit, MI

W.D. Morrison, Jr., Detroit, MI

O.B. Cobbins, Jackson, MS

W.H. Hollins, Birmingham, AL

George W. Powell, Jacksonville, FL

J.R. Taylor, Miami, FL

F. Henry Williams, Jacksonville, FL

Horace Sudduth, Cincinatti, OH

J.W. Sanford, Oklahoma City, OK

A. Maceo Smith, Dallas, TX

NAREB® is the Oldest and Largest Minority Real Estate Trade Association in America. Our membership consists of Brokers, Real Estate Agents, Title Representatives, Attorneys, Insurance Representatives, Mortgage Brokers, Bankers and Affiliates.