The U.S. Supreme Court was asked today to review the case of bank exectuve Jesse Turner…

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NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND 
10 COLUMBUS CIRCLE + NEW YORK 19,N.Y. © JUdson 6-8397 

DR. ALLAN KNIGHT CHALMERS oe THURGOOD MARSHALL 
Prosident Director-Counsel 

April 27, 1961 

NEW YORK, Apr. 28. -- The U. S. Supreme Court was asked today to 

review the case of bank executive Jesse Turner against the Dobbs 

Houses Restaurant in the Memphis Municipal Airport which refuses to 

serve Negroes in its main dining room, 

Mr. Turner, executive vice president and cashier of the Tri-State 

Bank in Memphis, and the first Negro elected to the Shelby County, 

Tenn. Democratic Executive Committee since Reconstruction, was, in 

1959, twice refused service in the Dobbs Houses Restaurant in the 

Memphis airport. He was barred on the grounds that the state law 

prohibits service of Negroes with whites. The manager offered to 

serve Mr. Turner in a small room reserved for Negroes. 

Mr. Turner first brought his suit in the federal district court 

in Memphis in April, 1960. In January, 1961, the court, consisting 

of three judges -- Sixth Circuit Judge John D. Martin of Memphis, 

District Judge Marion S. Boyd of Memphis and District Judge William E. 

Miller of Nashville -- refused to enjoin the segregation of Negroes. 

The court ruled that before Mr. Turner continues his case in the 

federal court, he should first initiate suit in the state court for 

construction of the statutes and a state regulation issued by the 

State Division of Hotel and Restaurant Inspection permitting segrega- 

tion. 

The Dobbs Houses Restaurant defended its action in the federal 

court on the ground that an 1875 state statute, passed during 

Reconstruction to counteract the effects of the Federal Civil Rights 

Act of 1875, gave it the right to choose its own customers and to 

segregate them on the basis of race. 

A 1943 regulation promulgated by the Tennessee Department of 

Conservation, Division of Hotel and Restaurant Inspection, provides 

that "Restaurants catering to both white and Negro patrons should be 

arranged so that each race is properly segregated." 



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The restaurant in the Memphis Municipal airport has been leased 

to Dobbs Houses by the City for the purpose of operating a first-class 

cafe for the benefit of the public. 

In his suit, Mr, Turner had also challenged the segreaation of 

rest room facilities in the airport which have since been desegregated, 

The case was taken to the U, S. Supreme Court by Thurgood 

Marshall and Constance Baker Motley of the NAACP Legal Defense and 

Educational Fund in New York City. Local counsel in the case is R, B. 

Sugarmon of Memphis, Tenn. 

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