Discrimination Suit Filed Against the U.S. Civil Service Commission and National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Correspondence from Chambers to Greenberg preview

Document text

The following text has been generated automatically during the document scanning process. It may contain errors, omissions, or incorrect formatting. Please refer to the PDF document if this text is not usable.

Download

By downloading, publishing, or reusing the Materials outside of the Website, you hereby confirm and attest that you have read and agree to the LDF Archival Collection Terms of Use linked below. We draw your attention to the following:

For those Materials owned by LDF, your use of the Material outside the Site is solely for one or more of the following (the “Permitted Purposes”):

Non-commercial research and private study;
Teaching, scholarship and instruction (including distance learning);
Non-commercial print and non-commercial online use;
Criticism, comment or news reporting; or
For people with visual disabilities (See Section 121 of the Copyright Act).
For those Materials not owned by LDF you understand that:
- It is your responsibility to determine whether the way you plan to use the materials falls within the copyright exception of Fair Use.
- For any use outside of Fair Use, it is your responsibility to seek and obtain all required permissions from any existing rights holders.

LDF hereby grants you the right to use LDF owned Materials for the Permitted Purposes without seeking further permission from LDF.

If you publish or redistribute any Materials (including excerpts and quotes), you must include a credit line and/or proper citation to the source of the Material. However, you may not use the name of LDF in any manner which creates any false association between you and LDF or that incorrectly implies any sponsorship or endorsement of you by LDF.

NOTICE: Uses that do not comply with these Terms or that do not fall under Fair Use (or another exception) may make you liable for copyright infringement.

Read the full LDF Archival Collection Terms of Use Here.

I agree to the terms and conditions for use of this content.

If you would like to use this content in other ways, contact us at

LDF Attorneys
Cooperating Attorney
- Leslie J. Winner
Organization
- NAACP Legal and Educational Defense Fund, Inc.
Matter
- Gingles
Case
- Thornburg v. Gingles
U.S. state
- North Carolina
Collection
- Case Files
Creator
- Napolean Williams & Others
Taxonomy
Identifier
- 59b70bf5-d992-ee11-be37-6045bdeb8873

Cite this item

Press Releases, Volume 6. Discrimination Suit Filed Against the U.S. Civil Service Commission and National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 1974. 07c5effb-ba92-ee11-be37-00224827e97b. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/de9277d7-f964-4feb-b9df-5b467192d08c/discrimination-suit-filed-against-the-us-civil-service-commission-and-national-aeronautics-and-space-administration. Accessed August 19, 2025.

Copied!

    ca i274 
1BY! NYPRSO 

; 
i 

TO CITY DESK 

NEW YORK, NOV. 20 -- NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND 

LAWYERS SAID THEY FILED SUIT TODAY AGAINST THE U.S. CIVIL SERVICE 

COMMISSION AND THE NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION, 

CHARGING RACE AND SEX DISCRIMINATION IN EMPLOYMENT. THE SUIT WAS 

FILED IN THE U.S. DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 

THE ACTION, INITIATED BY TWO EMPLOYEES OF THE NASA JOHNSON 

SPACE“ CENTER IN HOUSTON, TEXAS, SEEKS BACK PAY AND OTHER REDRESS 

FOR THE“ NAMED PLAINTIFFS, AS WELL AS INJUNCTIVE RELIEF AGAINST THE 

CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION AND NASA ON BEHALF OF ALL BLACKS AND WOMEN 

EMPLOYED BY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AND THE SPACE CENTER. 

THE SUIT REPRESENTS THE FIRST INSTANCE IN WHICH NASA HAS BEEN 

CONFRONTED BY A COMPREHENSIVE LAW SUIT INVOLVING RACE AND SEX 

DISCRIMINATION. IT IS ALSO THE FIRST INSTANCE IN WHICH A COURT HAS 

BEEN ASKED TO ISSUE AN ORDER REQUIRING THE CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION 

TO PROCESS AND CONSIDER CLAIMS OF CLASS DISCRIMINATION. AT PRESENT, 

THE COMMISSION WILL ONLY PROCESS CHARGES OF DISCRIMINATION ON AN 

INDIVIDUAL BASIS. 

AT ISSUE ARE CHARGES THAT CIVIL SERVICE EXAMINATIONS AND SCREENING 

DEVICES ARE NOT JOB RELATED AND HAVE A DISCRIMINATORY IMPACT; 

BLACKS AND WOMEN ARE RESTRICTED AT THE NASA INSTALLATION TO LOW-PaAID, 

MENIAL_TASKS; THAT MERIT PROMOTION PLANS PERMIT A WIDE LATITUDE 

OF JUDGMENT, LEAVING OFFICIALS FREE TO PLACE OR KEEP BLACKS 

AND WOMEN IN DEAD-END JOBS. 

COMMENTING ON THE PROBLEMS RAISED BY THE LAW SUIT, THE LEGAL 

DEFENSE FUND °S DIRECTOR-COUNSEL, JACK GREENBERG, NOTED -- “THE 

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT MUST BE TREATED IN ALL MATERIAL RESPECTS LIKE A 

PRIVATE EMPLOYER. DISCRIMINATORY EMPLOYMENT PRACTICES ARE NO LESS 

/FROM PR NEWSWIRE--NYC 212-352-9400/LA 213-626-5501/MIA 305-576-5020/ 

34g 



THE COMMISSION WILL. ONLY PROCESS CHARGES OF DISCRIMINATION ON AN 

INDIVIDUAL BASIS. 

AT ISSUE ARE CHARGES THAT CIVIL SERVICE EXAMINATIONS AND SCREENING 

DEVICES ARE NOT JOB RELATED“AND HAVE A DISCRIMINATORY IMPACT$ THAT 

BLACKS AND WOMEN ARE RESTRICTED AT THE NASA INSTALLATION TO LOW-PAID, 

MENIAL TASKS: THAT MERIT PROMOTION PLANS PERMIT A WIDE LATITUDE 

OF JUDGMENT, LEAVING OFFICIALS FREE TO PLACE OR KEEP BLACKS 

AND WOMEN IN DEAD-END JOBS. 

COMMENTING ON THE PROBLEMS RAISED BY THE LAW SUIT, THE LEGAL 

DEFENSE: FUND 'S DIRECTOR-COUNSEL, JACK GREENBERG, NOTED -- “THE 

FEDERAL G OVER NENT MUST “BE TREATED IN@ALL MATERIAL RESPECTS LIKE A 

PRIVATE EMPLOYER © DISCRIMINATORY EMPLOYMENT PRACTICES ARE NO LESS 

TOLERABLE IN GOVERNMENT AGENCIES THAN THEY ARE IN THE PRIVATE 

SECTOR.” THE NASA JOHNSON SPACE CENTER HAS 3,717 EMPLOYEES OF WHICH 

137 ARE BLACK AND 742 ARE WOMEN - INCLUDING 53 BLACK WOMEN. THE 

NAMED PLAINTIFFS ARE SYLVESTER BARRETT, AND GLORIA WILLIAMS. 

=O= 

/NOTE -- THE NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND 1S A COMPLETELY 

SEPARATE ORGANIZATION, EVEN THOUGH ESTABLISHED BY THE NAACP. THE 

CORRECT DESIGNATION IS NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND, 

INCeg,, FREQUENTLY SHORTEWED TO LEGAL DEFENSE FUND. 

/CONTACT -- NORMAN BLOOMFIELD OF NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE AND 

EDUCATIONAL FUND AT 212-586-8397/ 

-90-

Copyright notice

This collection and the tools to navigate it (the “Collection”) are available to the public for general educational and research purposes, as well as to preserve and contextualize the history of the content and materials it contains (the “Materials”). Like other archival collections, such as those found in libraries, LDF owns the physical source Materials that have been digitized for the Collection; however, LDF does not own the underlying copyright or other rights in all items and there are limits on how you can use the Materials. By accessing and using the Material, you acknowledge your agreement to the Terms. If you do not agree, please do not use the Materials.

Additional info

To the extent that LDF includes information about the Materials’ origins or ownership or provides summaries or transcripts of original source Materials, LDF does not warrant or guarantee the accuracy of such information, transcripts or summaries, and shall not be responsible for any inaccuracies.

Correspondence from Chambers to Greenberg

LDF Attorneys

Cooperating Attorney

Organization

Matter

Case

U.S. state

Collection

Creator

Taxonomy

Identifier

Cite this item

Copyright notice

Additional info

You may also be interested in