Greenberg Statement on Successful LDF Supreme Ct. Action on 1961 Freedom Ride (Abernathy) and Sit-In (McKinnie) Cases (Telegram)

Press Release
April 5, 1965

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Greenberg Statement on Successful LDF Supreme Ct. Action on 1961 Freedom Ride (Abernathy) and Sit-In (McKinnie) Cases (Telegram) preview

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  • Press Releases, Volume 2. Greenberg Statement on Successful LDF Supreme Ct. Action on 1961 Freedom Ride (Abernathy) and Sit-In (McKinnie) Cases (Telegram), 1965. 61bf72da-b592-ee11-be37-00224827e97b. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/513d3888-441e-4fc2-9e71-b05153d9ab41/greenberg-statement-on-successful-ldf-supreme-ct-action-on-1961-freedom-ride-abernathy-and-sit-in-mckinnie-cases-telegram. Accessed November 11, 2025.

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    DOMESTIC SERVICE INTERN 

: WESTERN UNION 
TELEGRAM 120 

DAY LETTER E TE LE GRAM 
NIGHT LETTER W. P. MARSHALL, rw 

| | NAACP, LEGAL DEFENSE & ED FUND 
i 3 3 NY C re Fs 

|) Send the following message, subject co the terms on back hereof, whi Cokumbus Circle; -N.¥,G.— Suite 

i eg list payee April 5, 1965 

_ ‘Director-Counsel Jack Greenberg of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund commented 
dW today's Supreme Court civil rights decisions, both won by the Legal 
lefense Fund, as follows. Of the Abernathy case he said, "This victory 

* wipes out one of the last vestiges of the freedom ride prosecutions of 
1961. Still pending are hundreds of cases in Mississippi which Mississippi 

authorities have insisted upon trying one by one and in which more than 
$372,000.00 bond money is tied up in Mississippi banks.* 

~ Of the McKinnie case, Mr. Greenberg stated, :"This isthe 26th: sit-in 
- decision in the Supreme Court of the United States, all of which have 
\ been won by the young people who courageously awakened the conscience of 

~ the nation. We are still engaged in cleaning up 3,000 such convictions in 
ower courts. There already have been dismissals in Arkansas, Georgia, 

(more) 

DOMESTIC SERVICE $ a INTERNATIONAL SERVICE \ WESTERN UNION (= 
TELEGRAM FULL Ral 

aan : TELEGRAM - Se 
NIGHT LETTER hey W. P. MARSHALL, ys 

[inoiwos-cu-or sve] ro oncom. [cas no eetount OF 1 TNE FILED ] 
NAACP LEGAL DEF ENSE & ED FUND 
10 Columbus Circle, N.Y.C. Suite 2030 

Send the following message, subject to the terms on back hereof, which are hereby agreed to 

Page 2 (See list attached) April 5, 1965 

North Carolina, South Carolina and elsewhere. We call upon prosecutors 
throughout the South to abide by the letter and the spirit of these 
decisions and voluntarily abandon such prosecutions." 

Jesse DeVore, Jr. Director 
Public Information 
NAACP Legal Defense & Ed. Fund, Inc. 
10 Columbus Circle, Suite 2030 
New York, New York 
212--JU 6-8397

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