A white mother says she was evicted because she invited African American guests to a playdate.

Victoria Sutton, a mother of two, often asked her black co-worker to visit with their five-year-old son.

After one of the playdates, a new lawsuit says, landlord Allen McCoy knocked on the door of her Georgia home and called her a "n***** lover.”

She also claims he threatened to call Child Protective Services over her having a "n***** on their property."

The lawsuit - filed by lawyers from the ACLU - says she was told she had two weeks to move out and that he had previously evicted a woman who wanted an African American to move in with her.

As a result, she says she moved out of the home in December over concerns for her and her daughter's safety.

When confronted by a news reporter, Mr McCoy denied the allegations, saying: "Some of the best friends I got is coloured.”

His wife Patricia instead claimed Sutton had been asked to move out because of damage to bathrooms, walls and doors.

But legal papers filed by Ms Sutton say photographs show no such damage.

Lawyers are asking for damages related to emotional distress and the "diversion of resources" in having to move.

Sean J Young, legal director for the ACLU of Georgia, told CNN: "Discriminatory motives are rarely spoken aloud and even more rarely caught on tape. People who discriminate are almost always able to come up with a neutral-sounding pretext for their discrimination."

He said a ruling in Ms Sutton’s favour would be “a stark reminder of the injustice that continues to thrive in Georgia today”.