YMCA Says "No" to Negroes - LDF Presses Court Action

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- Press Releases
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- LDF
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- 48851110-b992-ee11-be37-00224827e97b

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Press Releases, Volume 5. YMCA Says "No" to Negroes - LDF Presses Court Action, 1968. 48851110-b992-ee11-be37-00224827e97b. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/d41a582a-55b8-420d-9282-e3bba793df19/ymca-says-no-to-negroes-ldf-presses-court-action. Accessed January 07, 2026.

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    President 
Hon. Francis E. Rivers 

PRESS RELEASE Director-Counsel 
egal efense und -bS dees Ceeenlete | 

a- hd Director, Public Relations 
NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND, INC. \ JousTicVace Te. 
10 Columbus Circle, New York, N.Y. 10019 * JUdson 6-8397 NIGHT NUMBER 212-749-8487 

FOR IMMEDIATE PRESS RELEASE 

YMCA SAYS "NO" TO NEGROES 

LDF PRESSES COURT ACTION 

BESSEMER, ALA.--Two Negroes who were denied food and lodging 

at the Young Men's Christian Association here. took their 

case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit 

today (October 17). 

Almost three years ago, Blevin Stout and Sammie Bibb, Jr., 

both from Jefferson County, Alabama, entered the local YMCA 

intending to register for a room and have the evening meal. 

According to their attorney, Conrad Harper of the NAACP 

Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF), they were 

told the establishment did not serve Negroes. 

Stout and Bibb began a class action against the YMCA, 

charging that they and other Negroes were being deprived of 

their rights guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment, and 

the public accommodations section ofthe 1964 Civil Rights Act. 

The charge was dismissed by a lower federal court, which 

said the public accommodations section did not apply to the 

YMCA. 

In today's action, attorney Harper argued that, not only 

was the 1964 Civil Rights Act applicable, but also an 1866 

Civil Rights Law forbids racial discrimination in the YMCA. 

ago 

NOTE: The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) 

is a separate and distinct organization from the NAACP. Its 

correct designation is the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational 

Fund, Inc., which is shortened to LDF. 

oe

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YMCA Says "No" to Negroes - LDF Presses Court Action

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