{"id":47802,"date":"2026-03-20T14:16:38","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T18:16:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/?p=47802"},"modified":"2026-03-20T14:16:38","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T18:16:38","slug":"robert-f-laufman-civil-rights-attorney-and-advocate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/2026\/03\/robert-f-laufman-civil-rights-attorney-and-advocate\/","title":{"rendered":"Robert F. Laufman\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Civil rights attorney\u00a0and advocate\u00a0\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The Archives and Rare Books Library\u00a0is excited to announce that the Robert F. Laufman papers have been\u00a0processed,\u00a0and a finding aid has been created.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"642\" src=\"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/image-1.png\" alt=\"Robert F. Laufman\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Civil rights attorney\u00a0and advocate\u00a0\u00a0\" class=\"wp-image-47807\" style=\"aspect-ratio:0.7835455435847208;width:163px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/image-1.png 500w, https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/image-1-110x141.png 110w, https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/image-1-234x300.png 234w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Credit: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cincinnati.com\/obituaries\/pwoo0751748\">Cincinnati Enquirer<\/a>, March 11, 2024<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-nowrap is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-ad2f72ca wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<p>Robert F. Laufman\u00a0(1931-2024)\u00a0began his\u00a0career as an engineer at Proctor and Gamble. He\u00a0returned\u00a0to school and earned a law degree in 1961\u00a0from Northern Kentucky University. He was an\u00a0attorney with the Legal Aid Society of Cincinnati before\u00a0establishing\u00a0his private practice in 1971. His\u00a0firm\u00a0focused on\u00a0assisting\u00a0clients with social justice\u00a0issues\u00a0such as\u00a0school desegregation,\u00a0prison reform, employment discrimination, racial discrimination, housing\u00a0discrimination,\u00a0and police misconduct. His firm, Laufman, Rauh and Gerhardstein,\u00a0partnered with\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/findingaids.libraries.uc.edu\/repositories\/5\/resources\/926\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Al Gerhardstein<\/a>\u00a0and Trudy Ruah, two Cincinnati social justice lawyers to support individuals facing discrimination. Laufman also represented\u00a0numerous\u00a0organizations in Cincinnati, including Housing Opportunities Made Equal, Cincinnati Federation of Teachers, and Planned Parenthood. Over the course of his career, he served as counsel on over 300 cases.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Laufman co-founded Volunteer Lawyers for the Poor and volunteered with the Ohio Justice and Policy Center. He served as president and&nbsp;later&nbsp;the board of the Legal Aid Society of Cincinnati and was involved with the Cincinnati Bar Association Grievance Council.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" src=\"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/UCL-Blegen801-SHARP_20260320_133013_0001-1-1200x675.jpg\" alt=\"Cincinnati Post heading on February 19. 1976 on redlining become illegal from case Laufman v. Oakley Building and Loan Co.\" class=\"wp-image-47806\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.74773172033446;width:355px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/UCL-Blegen801-SHARP_20260320_133013_0001-1-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/UCL-Blegen801-SHARP_20260320_133013_0001-1-850x478.jpg 850w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">February 19, 1976 Cincinnati Post headline after Laufman v. Oakley Building &amp; Loan Co. found current loan home policy was discriminatory. From the Robert F. Laufman papers, US-21-04<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Notable cases documented within his papers include:\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>June M. Betts v. Hamilton County Board of Mental Retardation<\/em>\u00a0(1989)\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>Robert F. Laufman v. Oakley Building and Loan Company<\/em>\u00a0(1976)\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>Board of Education of the City of Cincinnati\u00a0Board of Education of the City of Cincinnati v. National Association for the Advancement of\u00a0Colored People<\/em>\u00a0(1976), which was also known as the St. Mary&#8217;s Case\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Overview of collection\u00a0\u00a0<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Most of&nbsp;his&nbsp;case files&nbsp;consist of&nbsp;copies of the original complaint, legal pleadings, correspondence&nbsp;regarding&nbsp;the case, and appeal briefs. Laufman&#8217;s papers illustrate social reform movements or in some cases the disregard of federal law when it came to the Fair Housing Act, the Equal Employment Opportunity Act, the Civil Rights&nbsp;Act&nbsp;and other legislation prohibiting discrimination.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1978\" height=\"2560\" src=\"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/UCL-Blegen801-SHARP_20260320_132720_0001-edited-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Scan of Business Week magazine page 143 featuring an article &quot;The law closes in on mortgage discrimination&quot; which details Robert Laufman's court case Laufman v. Oakley Building and Loans with a photograph of Laufman, his wife, and his son infront of his home in March 1976.\" class=\"wp-image-47804\" srcset=\"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/UCL-Blegen801-SHARP_20260320_132720_0001-edited-scaled.jpg 1978w, https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/UCL-Blegen801-SHARP_20260320_132720_0001-edited-109x141.jpg 109w, https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/UCL-Blegen801-SHARP_20260320_132720_0001-edited-768x994.jpg 768w, https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/UCL-Blegen801-SHARP_20260320_132720_0001-edited-1187x1536.jpg 1187w, https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/UCL-Blegen801-SHARP_20260320_132720_0001-edited-1583x2048.jpg 1583w, https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/UCL-Blegen801-SHARP_20260320_132720_0001-edited-232x300.jpg 232w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1978px) 100vw, 1978px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Business Week article of March 22, 1976 detailing the court case Laufman v. Oakley Building &amp; Loan Co. from the Robert F. Laufman papers, US-21-04<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>To\u00a0view\u00a0the\u00a0online finding aid, please visit\u00a0the <a href=\"https:\/\/findingaids.libraries.uc.edu\/repositories\/5\/resources\/1038\">Robert F. Laufman papers\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Archives and Rare Books Library\u00a0is excited to announce that the Robert F. Laufman papers have been\u00a0processed,\u00a0and a finding aid has been created.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":469,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,600,31,13],"tags":[2358,53,1250,2511,2862,2863,36],"class_list":["post-47802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arb","category-special-collections-2","category-uc","category-uclibraries","tag-archives-and-rare-books","tag-cincinnati-history","tag-civil-rights","tag-housing","tag-lawyers","tag-legal-aid-society-of-cincinnati","tag-uc-libraries"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/469"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47802"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47802\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47810,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47802\/revisions\/47810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}