Burke Marshall to Address NAACP Lawyers at Annual Conference in Atlanta

    "PRESS RELEASE 

NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND 
1OCOLUMBUS CIRCLE + NEW YORK19,N.Y. © JUdson 6-8397 

DR. ALLAN KNIGHT CHALMERS JACK GREENBERG CONSTANCE BAKER MOTLEY 
Prosident Director-Counsel Associate Counsel 

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BURKE MARSHALL TO ADDRESS NAACP LAWYERS 
AT ANNUAL CONFERENCE IN ATLANTA 

June 21, 1962 

NEW YORK -- Jack Greenberg, Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal 

Defense Fund, announced today that a two-day conference of NAACP law- 

yers will be held July 1-2 during the annual National Association 

convention in Atlanta. 

Burke Marshall, head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights 

Division, will address the group Monday morning, July 2nd. 

Mr. Marshall will discuss current problems facing civil rights liti- 

gants and lawyers, 

More than 100 lawyers actively engaged in civil rights cases are 

expected to attend. Other featured speakers are Howard Law School 

Dean Spottswood W, Robinson, III, NAACP Executive Secretary Roy 

Wilkins, and Robert L. Canter the Association's General Counsel. 

The program will cover many aspects of civil rights litigation. 

Civil rights cases involving racial discrimination have become increas- 

ingly prominent since the emergence of the student sit-in movement and 

the Freedom Rides. Mr. Greenberg will discuss issues involved in many 

of the “sit-in" cases now pending before the U, S. Supreme Court, 

Other speakers will be: Mrs. Constance Baker Motley (Associate 

Counsel), James M. Nabrit, III, Derrick A. Bell, Jr., and W. Robert 

Ming, noted Chicago attorney. 

The sessions will be held at the Georgia Teachers and Education 

Association building in Atlanta. 

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GRADY HOSPITAL IN ATLANTA SUED 
TO DESEGREGATE ITS FACILITIES 

June 21, 1962 

NEW YORK -- Atlanta's largest medical facility, Grady Memorial 

Hospital, was sued by NAACP Legal Defense Fund attorneys this week to 

desegregate its facilities. 



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The Atlanta complaint asks for desegregation of the hospital's 

medical and dental staffs, its intern and nursing programs, psychi- 

atric ward and X-Ray program and the local and state medical and dental 

associations, Director-Counsel Jack Greenberg called it "the broadest 

medical desegregation action we've filed." 

The suit also asks that the separate-but-equal provision of the 

federal Hill-Burton Act, under which Grady has received $1,789,719.00, 

be declared unconstitutional. 

The action, filed by Atlanta Attorney Donald L. Hollowell, will 

be heard in the U. S, District Court for the Northern District of 

Georgia. The plaintiffs are seven Negroes, dentist R. C, Bell, physi- 

cian Clinton Warner, nursing student Ruby Doris Smith, and Alice Banks 

Smith, Edwina M, Smith, John A, Middleton, Dorothy F, Cotton and 

Septima P. Clark. 

The complaint alleges that the total operating cost for Grady 

Hospital in 1960 was seven million dollars, Grady maintains Hughes 

Spaulding Pavilion for Negro paying patients, and segregates Negro and 

white non-paying patients in its main division, Negro physicians and 

dentists may only be admitted to staff privileges to treat Negro 

patients, 

A segregated nursing school is maintained by the hospital, The 

emergency treatment service determines the race of a prospective 

patient before dispatching an ambulance, the complaint alleges. 

Fund attorneys also claim that the psychiatric ward and X-Ray 

technology program are closed to Negroes. 

In asking for desegregation of Georgia medical and dental socie~ 

ties, Fund attorneys claim that these organizations nominate members 

of the State Board of Health and the Georgia Hospital Advisory Com- 

mittee. Such exclusion, the complaint charges, denies Negroes the 

right "to participate in choosing governmental officials of the State 

of Georgia." 

The desegregation action is based on the due process and equal pry 

tection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment and the due process clause 

of the Fifth Amendment to the U. S. Constitution. 

No date has been set for a hearing. 



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NAACP Legal Defense Fund attorneys for the Negro plaintiffs are 

Donald Hollowell and Horace T. Ward of Atlanta, and Jack Greenberg, 

James M, Nabrit, III, and Michael Meltsner of New York City. 

LEGAL DEFENSE FUND KEEPS 
U. S. SUPREME COURT BUSY 

June 21, 1962 

NEW YORK -- The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund has handled 

more cases in the U, S. Supreme Court during the Court's current term 

than any other law office, Jack Greenberg, Fund Director-Counsel, said 

today. 

Mr, Greenberg said the Clerk of the Court had informed him that 

only the U. S. Department of Justice has brought more cases this term 

than the Legal Defense Fund's total of twenty-nine. 

Most of the cases deal with "sit-in" convictions. Thirteen pro- 

test cases involving trespass convictions are still pending before the 

Court. Mr. Greenberg said he hopes the Court will act on these before 

it adjourns at the end of June. The Court has decided to hear one 

South Carolina demonstration case involving 187 students next term. 

Three cases were argued before the Court this term by Fund attor- 

neys. All three were decided unanimously in favor of the Legal Defense 

Fund party. 

Mr. Greenberg argued and won the first "sit-in" case which the 

Court heard last fall. In its decision, the Court reversed the convic- 

tions of 16 Baton Rouge, La. Negro students who had been arrested for 

breach of the peace by Louisiana police. 

Associate Counsel, Mrs. Constance Baker Motley, won a capital 

case involving an Alabena Negro last fall who had been sentenced to 

death for "burglary with intent to ravish." Mrs. Motley argued that 

Clarence Charles Hamilton, the defendant, should have been represented 

by counsel when he was arraigned, and the Court's decision upholding 

her argument established an important constitutional precedent. 

Mrs. Motley also won a cage requiring desegregation of the Memphis 

Tenn, airport restaurant in March. 

In refusing to hear four school segregation cases this term, the 

high Court upheld lower court decisions requiring further desegregation. 



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Mr, Greenberg said that the Fund is now party to approximately 

105 discrimination suits throughout the country involving schools, 

public facilities, protest demonstrations, transportation, recreation, 

and medical facilities. The Legal Defense Fund is supporting the 

defense of more than 3,000 students who were convicted for "sit-ins" 

and Freedom Rides. 

Mr. Greenberg also announced that the Fund will continue to take 

cases which involve racial discrimination of militery personnel. 

"Though we have had few such cases in recent years, we are still 

available for referrals in situations where racial discrimination of 

military personnel is a factor," he said. 

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