Johnson v. The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company Brief for Plaintiffs-Appellants

    ” PRESS RELEASE @ @ 

NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND 
10 COLUMBUS CIRCLE « NEW YORK 19,N.Y. © JUdson 6-8397 

DR. ALLAN KNIGHT CHALMERS Oe THURGOOD MARSHALL 
President Director-Counsel 

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SUPREME COURT ASKED TO REVIEW CONVICTION 
OF HOWARD U. LAW STUDENT 

WASH., D.C.--The United States Supreme Court was asked this 

week to review the arrest and conviction of a Howard University Law 

student for refusing to leave an interstate bus terminal restaurant 

when he was denied service and ordered out by the management. 

The student, Bruce Boynton, was arrested in December, 1958, at 

the Trailways Bus Terminal in Richmond, Va. while en route to his 

home in Selma, Ala. He boarded the Trailways bus in Washington, D. C. 

When the bus made its regular 45-minute stop at the Richmond 

Terminal, Boynton went into the waiting room along with the other pa¢c- 

sengers. Upon entering he found the small restaurant serving Negro 

passengers was crowded and then went into another one at the end of 

the waiting room which was practically empty. 

A white waitress informed him that they did not serve Negroes anc 

advised him to go to the colored restaurant. When Boynton explained 

that the colored restaurant was crowded and that he was an interstate 

passenger and wanted to be served before his bus departed, the waitres 

called the assistant manager. The assistant manager demanded that 

Boynton leave and when he refused, had him arrested for trespassing. 

The Howard University student was convicted in the police court 

of Richmond and fined $10. The conviction was twice appealed but up- 

held by the city and state courts. 

The case was taken to the U. S. Supreme Court Tuesday, September 

15, by attorneys for the N.A.A.C,P. Legal Defense and Educational Fund. 

In their petition the attorneys charged that the lower courts' deci- 

sions were contrary to decisions already rendered by the high Court 

prohibiting racial discrimination in interstate travel. The arrest 

and conviction of Mr. Boynton was said to invoke the state's criminal 

law machinery to enforce racial discrimination thereby "conflicting 

with the long consistent line of decision" in the Supreme Court. 



N.A.A.C.P, Legal Defense Fund attorneys for the law student are 

Thurgood Marshall, Conétance Baker Motley and Jack Greenberg, all of 

New York. Local counéel are Martin A. Martin and Clarence W. Newsome 

of Richmond, Va. 

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