LDF Sues Makers of Kent Cigarettes for Job Bias
Press Release
August 6, 1966

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Press Releases, Volume 4. LDF Sues Makers of Kent Cigarettes for Job Bias, 1966. 3109101b-b792-ee11-be37-00224827e97b. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/4f6e865f-145a-47bb-97c6-b18501fffd04/ldf-sues-makers-of-kent-cigarettes-for-job-bias. Accessed June 01, 2025.
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10 Columbus Circle 2 New York, N.Y. 10019 z JUdson 6-8397 NAACP ee Defense and Educational ya tind PRESS RELEASE ; NS 4 jh By President Pe " > to, f Hon. Francis E. Rivers pans a Director-Counsel FOR, RELEASE» . am Jack Greenberg SATURDAY August 6," a rs LDF SUES MAKERS OF KENT CIGARETTES FOR JOB BIAS GREENSBORO, N. C.---The NAACP Legal Defense Fund this week filed suit, in behalf of Negro women employees, against the P. Lorillard Company (Kent Cigarettes). The request for a permanent injunction due to alleged discriminatory practices, was also filed against the TobaccoWorkers International AFL-CIO and the Tobacco Workers International Union, AFL-CIO, Local 317. Suit was filed in the U. S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina. Negro employees, the Legal Defense Fund's complaint asserts, "Have been hired for menial and low paying jobs solely on basis of race and color. Matters regarding salary, terms of employment conditions and privileges “have been governed and controlled by collective bargaining agreements entered into by defendants P, Lorillard and the Union," the complaint asserts. Following discussions with the President's Committee on Equal Job Opportunities, P. Lorillard instituted department seniority provisions dividing employees into nine different job categories. If Negroes leave the blending and services department, which attorneys describe as being “one step above sweeping," they lose seniority, hence theyare confined to the same positions. The Legal Defense Fund suit followed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission under Title VIL of. the 1966 Civil Rights Act. poas) SGete Jesse DeVore, Jr., Director of Public Information—Night Number 212 Riverside 9-8487 Sa