U.S. Supreme Court Blocks Segregation in Macon Park

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- Press Releases
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- 42958fa1-b692-ee11-be37-00224827e97b

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Press Releases, Volume 3. U.S. Supreme Court Blocks Segregation in Macon Park, 1966. 42958fa1-b692-ee11-be37-00224827e97b. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/67aac9ed-10ad-42fb-b8ee-6eed7494b092/us-supreme-court-blocks-segregation-in-macon-park. Accessed November 03, 2025.

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    10 Columbus Circle 
New York, N.Y. 10019 
JUdson 6-8397 

Legal Defense and Educational Fund 
PRESS RELEASE 
Presiden f oy 
ie (Allan Knight Chalmers Wochesdcg RELEASE 

ae ? 

January 19, 1966 Director-Counsel 

Jack Greenberg 

U.S. SUPREME COURT BLOCKS 
SEGREGATION IN MACON PARK 

WASHINGTON----The U. S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that the city 

of Macon, Ga., could not resign as a trustee of a park to avoid 

desegregating the facility. 

Acting on an appeal brought by the NAACP Legal Defense and 

Educational Fund in behalf of six Macon Negroes, the high court 

was divided, 6-3. 

The park, known as Baconsfield, was established in 1911 by 

‘he will of the late Georgia Senator Augustus Octavius Bacon as 

a park for white women and children only. 

The Macon case bears a strong similarity to a situation in 

Philadelphia, Pa., where Girard College was established by an old 

will as a school for white orphan boys. 

Legal Defense Fund Director-Counsel Jack Greenberg, who argued 

the Macon case, said he "hopes the decision will lead to speedy 

desegregation of Girard College." 

Sen. Bacon's will directed perpetual ownership of the land 

by the city, and established a trust fund for maintenance of the 

park. 

However, Negroes began using the facility in 1963 after court 

decisions had made it apparent that the city could not operate a 

segregated park, 

The Georgia Supreme Court upheld the city's right to resign 

as trustees of the park after individual members of the park's 

Board of Managers brought state court action to enforce the 

segregationist provisions of the will. 

The U.S. Supreme Court's decision reversed the state court 

ruling. 

The majority opinion said that the city had operated the park 
for so many years that it had "momentum as a public facility." 

Mere substitution of private trustees does not free it from 
the constitutional restrictions against segregation by cities, the 
court held. 30 

Jesse DeVore, Jr., Director of Public Information—Night Number 212 Riverside 9-8487 Sse

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U.S. Supreme Court Blocks Segregation in Macon Park

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