Statement by Dr. Ralph J. Bunche, Chairman

    STATEMENT BY DR. RALPH J. BUNCHE, CHAIRMAN 
CONVOCATION ON EQUAL JUSTICE UNDER LAW 
SUNDAY, MAY 24, 1964 
AMERICANA HOTEL 
1 pm 

We are observing the twenty-fifth anniversary of the founding 

of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the organization 

which has engineered virtually every major advance in that period 

to secure the constitutional rights of Negroes through action in the 

courts, 

Milestones on the way from 1939 include: the U.S. Supreme 

Court's ruling against the Texas "White" primary in 1944; the out- 

lawing of restrictive covenants in real estate based on race by the 

Court in 1948; the Supreme Court's order that Heman Sweatt be ad- 

mitted as the first Negro at the University of Texas in 1950 (the 

beginning of a series of suits which finally by 1963 had opened pub- 

lic universitites in every state of the South to Negro students) ; 

and the unanimous decision of the Court in 1954 outlawing segrega- 

tion in public schools, whose tenth anniversary we now observe. 

These are only a few of the more celebrated of numerous court 

victories throughout this quarter-century, In recent weeks, two 

cases of the greatest importance were decided: the first upholding 

a U.S, Circuit Court ruling that discrimination and segregation are 

unconstitutional in hospitals receiving Hill-Burton funds, and the 

second outlawing bias in federally aided urban renewal projects. 

These achievements are bringing about sweeping changes in the 

human relations patterns of our country. They have helped to 

create a better image of our country among other peoples in the 

world. 

The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, from its small 

but courageous beginnings, has never wavered in its direction and 

in its dedication to the achievement of equal justice under law. 

An inspired group of lawyers, headed until 1961 by Judge Thurgood 

Marshall, and now by his able successor, Jack Greenberg, has pains- 

takingly charted every step of the way. There has been concentra- 

tion on the highest standards of professional excellence. This is 

a work that is indispensable to the future of the democratic way 

and the well-being of our society. 

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