Charles Abrams (September 20, 1901 – February 22, 1970) was a

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

-born American lawyer, writer,

urbanist Urbanism is the study of how inhabitants of urban areas, such as towns and cities, interact with the built environment The term built environment refers to human-made conditions and is often used in architecture, landscape architecture, urba ...

, and housing expert who created the New York City Housing and Development Administration in the 1960s. He was one of the first to use the expression "

Socialism for the rich and capitalism for the poor Socialism for the rich and capitalism for the poor is a classical political-economic argument asserting that, in advanced capitalist societies, state policies assure that more resources flow to the rich than to the poor, for example in the form ...

." In 1936, the

US Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point of ...

established, in ''

New York City Housing Authority The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) is a public development corporation which provides public housing in New York City, and is the largest public housing authority in North America. Created in 1934 as the first agency of its kind in the ...

v. Muller'', the Authority's right to employ the power of

eminent domain Eminent domain (United States, Philippines), land acquisition (India, Malaysia, Singapore), compulsory purchase/acquisition (Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, United Kingdom), resumption (Hong Kong, Uganda), resumption/compulsory acquisition (Austr ...

for slum-clearing purposes. The decision gave a broader meaning to the term ''public use'' and represented a victory for Abrams, the Authority's first counsel. From 1955 to 1959, Abrams served as head of the New York State Commission Against Discrimination, afterwards serving as president of the National Committee Against Discrimination in Housing from 1961 to 1965.

Works

*''Revolution in Land'', Harper & Brothers, 1939; Arno Press, 1979, *''A housing program for America'', League for Industrial Democracy, 1947 *''Forbidden Neighbors: a Study of Prejudice in Housing'', Associated Faculty Press, 1955, *''The city is the frontier'', Harper & Row, 1965 *''Man's Struggle for Shelter: In an Urbanizing World'', Mit Press, 1966, *'' The language of cities; a glossary of terms,'' Volume 14, Viking Press, 1971

References

1901 births 1970 deaths Polish emigrants to the United States American urban planners MIT School of Architecture and Planning faculty {{Lawyer-stub

Works

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References