Shelley v. Kraemer was a landmark United States Supreme Court case in 1948 that dealt with racial covenants in real estate. The case originated when a Black family, the Shelleys, purchased a home in St. Louis, Missouri, that had a racially restrictive covenant prohibiting the occupancy of the property by African Americans.

When the Shelleys attempted to move into their newly purchased home, a group of white residents who owned property nearby sought to enforce the restrictive racial covenant. The case eventually made its way to the Supreme Court, which ruled that state courts could not enforce racial covenants as they were violations of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

The Court's decision in Shelley v. Kraemer was a significant victory for the civil rights movement and played a crucial role in dismantling the legal framework that supported racial segregation in housing. It marked an important step towards challenging discriminatory housing practices and set a precedent for the protection of civil rights in real estate transactions.