NAACP Legal Defense Fund Statement on Civil Disobedience and Civil Disorder

Press Release
October 9, 1964

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Press Releases, Volume 1. NAACP Legal Defense Fund Statement on Civil Disobedience and Civil Disorder, 1964. 2f1b5c54-b592-ee11-be37-00224827e97b. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/98dbf6c3-a1a3-4ad1-97a5-f2fde7aa5746/naacp-legal-defense-fund-statement-on-civil-disobedience-and-civil-disorder. Accessed November 04, 2025.

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    Statement 
October 9, 1964 

NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE FUND STATEMENT ON 
CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE AND CIVIL. DISORDER 

i 
The NAACP Legal Defense Fund today announced “that it "would be 

extremely reluctant to defend civilly disobedient demonstrators, and 

then only under special circumstances. 

% The Board of Directors of the Fund, which serves as the legal 

of the entire civil rights movement, also released a policy statement 

with regard to persons arrested in riots: 

"It is conceivable that we might defend such a defendant as 

we might any defendant accused of a common crime---but, only if the 
P 

criminal proceeding is infected with fundamental unfairness or 

racial discrimination. 

“But we hardly can condone such conduct or, indeed, create an 

impression that we condone it in any way." 

The Fund, under guidance of its Director Counsel Jack Greenberg, 

in 1963 alone: 

* Defended 10,487 citizens arrested during peaceful 
demonstrations 

= * represented Negro Americans in 30 cases presented to the 
U.S. Supreme Court for review 

* fought 168 separate groups of legal actions in 15 states 
involving integration of schools, medical services, public 
facilities, recreation, employment and housing 

* Maintained its promotion of equal opportunity in education 

* expanded its staff to meet the critical shortage of 
trained civil rights attorneys. ee 

The Fund was established by the NAACP in 1939 and has since f 

operated as an independét directed, staffed and financed * 

s.s-organization. 

Its/17 New York based attorneys, | along with its 120 cooperating 

ae attorneys across the South, defend all the major civil rights groups, 

*including the Southern Christi dnl Leadership Conference, Congress of 

facial Equality, Student Non-VéeleM@mebordinating Committee and the 

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. 

= 30 4=

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NAACP Legal Defense Fund Statement on Civil Disobedience and Civil Disorder

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