Suits Filed in North Carolina to End School, Restaurant Bias

Press Release
December 15, 1964

Cite this item

Suits Filed in North Carolina to End School, Restaurant Bias 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 .

Collection
- Press Releases
Creator
- LDF
Taxonomy
Identifier
- 67d79a7e-b592-ee11-be37-00224827e97b

Cite this item

Press Releases, Volume 2. Suits Filed in North Carolina to End School, Restaurant Bias, 1964. 67d79a7e-b592-ee11-be37-00224827e97b. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/d08370d3-9024-44bc-b843-a0607714a8f0/suits-filed-in-north-carolina-to-end-school-restaurant-bias. Accessed December 04, 2025.

Copied!

    10 Columbus Circle 
New York, N.Y. 10019 

\6 JUdson 6-8397 

NAACP 

Legal Defense and Educational Fund 
PRESS RELEASE 

President FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

Dr. Allan Knight Chalmers Tuesday 
Director-Colinsel December 15, 1964 

Jack Greenberg 
Associate Counsel 

Constance Baker Motley 

SUITS FILED IN NORTH CAROLINA 
TO END SCHOOL, RESTAURANT BIAS 

Legal Defense Fund Presses for Rights Act Compliance 

CHARLOTTE, N.C.---The legal fight for racial equality in North 

Carolina feceived another boost this week as NAACP Legal Defense 

Fund lawyers brought actions to desegregate the school system of 

Craven County and to compel a Lillington restaurateur to open his 

facilities to all. 

Acting on behalf of 91 Craven County youngsters, the Legal 

Defense Fund asked the Federal District Court in New Bern to order 

school desegregation. 

According to Director-Counsel Jack Greenberg of the Legal 

Defense Fund, 91 is an unusually high number of plaintiffs in a 

school integregation suit. 

Following two unsuccessful attempts by Negro parents in Craven 

County to secure the school board's voluntary compliance with the 

1954 Supreme Court Decision, legal assistance was requested, 

Craven County thus becomes the 19th North Carolina community in 

which the Legal Defense Fund seeks equal educational opportunities 

for Negroes. 

The Legal Defense Fund complaint asks the court to end dual 

school zones, pupil assignments based on race, teacher hiring and 

assignments based on race, and further school construction designed 

to perpetuate a segregated educational system. 

In a suit to enforce the Public Accommodations section of the 

1964 Civil Rights Act, Legal Defense Fund lawyers asked the Federal 

Court in Raleigh to order the opening of Wade's Restaurant in 

Lillington to Negroes. The restaurant is situated on Interstate 

Highway 401. 
In their complaint, the ‘Rights attorneys charged that on 

November 9, Rev. B.B. Felder, Cornelius Leak, and Sarah M. McLean 

were denied service in the main portion of the restaurant. They 

were told they could only be served in the back section of the 

establishment, reserved for Negroes. 
NAACP Legal’ DefensevFund attorneys in the two suits are Mr. 

Greenberg, Derrick Bell, and Michael Meltsner of New York; Conrad O, 

Pearson and W.G. Pearson II of Durham; Reginald L. Frazier of New 

Bern; and J. LeVonne Chambers of Charlotte. 
-30- 

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

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.

Suits Filed in North Carolina to End School, Restaurant Bias

Collection

Creator

Taxonomy

Identifier

Cite this item

Copyright notice

Additional info

You may also be interested in