The Full Circle Moment Behind The Record-Breaking Sale Of Tyler Perry’s Former Mansion, Now Owned By Steve Harvey

In recent weeks the news broke that comedian Steve Harvey purchased a $15 million home outside Atlanta, making it the second most-expensive sale on record for the area. The same house also holds the record for being the most expensive sale when its previous owner, media magnate Tyler Perry, sold it for $17.5 million in 2016. The latest owner added some upgrades and then listed the property for $25 million in 2018, lowered the price to $21 million for a while and eventually settled on the $15 million sales price with Harvey as the buyer.

But the story behind Tyler Perry’s former Atlanta estate begins as far back as the 1960s with a segregationist named Moreton Rolleston—prominent lawyer and proprietor of the Heart of Atlanta Motel. A place that, prior to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, refused service to African-Americans.

Two hours after the Civil Rights Act was signed into law, Rolleston filed a lawsuit for $11 million saying the law was unconstitutional for two reasons: One, it violated the 5th Amendment which states, “…nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.” Two, it went beyond the jurisdiction of Congress to regulate commerce within a state (but he did concede that Congress could regulate interstate and international commerce). Rolleston claimed $1 million of the damages was for depriva­tion of property rights and the $10 million for being deprived of his right to refuse service, as the New York Times NYTNYT reported at the time. The case wound its way through the court system, finally reaching the Supreme Court, which would rule against Rolleston and provide a landmark ruling preventing discrimination in public accommodation.

After the 1964 decision, Rolleston gave a brief television interview, which you can see here in full, where he made several comments and read from a prepared statement saying:

“This decision nullifies the rights and principles which the Constitution was designed to perpetuate. This decision opens a frightful door to the unlimited power of a centralized government in Washington in which the individual citizen and his personal liberty are of no importance. It makes possible a socialistic state and the eventual dictatorship. This is a sad day for the cause of individual freedom.”

Rolleston also backed up his public commitment to segregation in his private life by including in the deed to his nearby property, the same land that Tyler Perry would eventually purchase, the clause that people of African descent were not allowed to stay there.

Rolleston would lose this 17-acre property as part of a multi-million dollar judgement against him that came about from its own hornet’s nest of litigation, including claims of fraud, professional negligence, breach of fiduciary duty, and some elaborate financial moves (such as $500,000 being changed in to Deutsche marks) leading up to Rolleston’s attempt to file for bankruptcy.

In 2005 media mogul Tyler Perry purchased the 17-acre property outside Atlanta, Georgia, from the estate of the family who had obtained it as part of the judgement against Rolleston. Perry tore down the existing home and had a 34,000-square-foot, 7-bedroom, 14-bathroom house built. During Perry’s ownership of the property he was pursued by Rolleston’s endless litigation claiming the seller didn’t have clear title to the land and it still rightfully belonged to Rolleston. The high drama went so far as Rolleston being jailed for contempt, not to mention a bill of peace requiring him to stop filing lawsuits and being threatened with disbarment. Perry prevailed each time.

During one of Perry’s parties at the house he told the crowd about the prohibitions included in the original deed and was approached afterward by Congressman John Lewis, who was in attendance. As Perry relayed in an interview: “After the party, he walked up to me in tears and said, ‘I was one of the young men that sat in at his lunch counter trying to integrate. And here I am, dancing on the property that he once owned.’” In 1964, Congressman Lewis was arrested, along with several others, for trying to eat in the motel restaurant.

Which makes the entire story come full circle. Another prominent African-American family now owns the land they were once prohibited from living on. Sometimes it takes several decades, and a landmark Supreme Court ruling, for poetic justice to come around.

The listing was represented by Chase Mizell of Sotheby’s International Realty. The buyers were represented by Lisa Robinson of Engel & Volkers. Both declined to comment on the sale.

This post first appeared on Forbes.com. To see the original, click here.