Dixie Hospital Bigotry Cracked by NAACP Legal Defense Lawyers
Press Release
March 6, 1964

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Press Releases, Loose Pages. Dixie Hospital Bigotry Cracked by NAACP Legal Defense Lawyers, 1964. 44d7bea1-bd92-ee11-be37-00224827e97b. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/e7c4e31e-87cd-475a-bfd4-20ecb809926e/dixie-hospital-bigotry-cracked-by-naacp-legal-defense-lawyers. Accessed April 27, 2025.
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)- PRESS RELEASE NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND 10 COLUMBUS CIRCLE + NEW YORK, N. Y. 10019 © JUdson 6-8397 DR. ALLAN KNIGHT CHALMERS JACK GREENBERG CONSTANCE BAKER MOTLEY President Director-Counsel Associate Counsel Ss DIXIE HOSPITAL BIGOTRY CRACKED BY NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE LAWYERS Supreme Court Action of Far Reaching Import March 6, 1964 WASHINGTON, D.C.--The U.S. Supreme Court swept away legal founda- tions for jim crow practices in 2,000 hospitals and medical facili- ties in eleven southern states this week. The victory, won by attorneys of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, is one of the most crucial and far reaching since the 1954 school integration ruling. These eleven southern states have received over a half billion federal dollars, to underwrite their segregationist practices, since passage of the Hill-Burton act of 1946. Jack Greenberg, Legal Defense Fund director-counsel, who led the platoon of lawyers, said the high court's action "will put an end to keeping Negroes out of white hospitals." Moreover, it will put an end to "segregating Negroes within hospitals and requiring them to give up their Negro doctors and hire white doctors if they want treatment," he went on. Mr, Greenberg said the victory "will be an entering wedge for Negro physicians into the main stream of medical practice in the south, "We wait to see whether the medical profession will voluntarily follow the law or whether a long hard process of litigation, such as we have had with schools, will be necessary," he said. The struggle was joined when Dr. G.C, Simkins, Jr., one of the plaintiffs, wrote to officials of both the Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital and the Wesley Long Hospital in March of 1960. Both are in Greensboro, North Carolina, He pointed out that neither would admit Negro physicians and dentists. As a result, Negro patients desiring admission would have to discharge their Negro doctors or dentists. Negro physicians, dentists and patients applied for positions and admission to the two hospital staffs and wards but were not accepted. The Negro plaintiffs included A.V, Blount, Jr., Walter J. Hughes, Norman N. Jones, Girardeau Alexander, E.D. Noel, III, and F,E. Davis, all qualified medical doctors practicing in Greensboro. Also, Dr. Simkins, Milton H. Barnes, and W.L.T. Miller, all qualified dentists, practicing in Greensboro. The patient-plaintiffs were Donald R, Lyons and A.J. Taylor, who has a confirmed gastric ulcer of 35 years duration. It requires constant medical supervision. Racially segregated hospital facilities built with Hill-Burton Money are located in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North and South Carolina, Tennessee, oe pie pee more Dixie Hospital Bigotry Cracked -2- March 6, 1964 by NAACP Legal Defense Lawyers The Supreme Court expressed its opinion by refusing to review an appeal by the two Greensboro hospitals charged with discrimination after Legal Defense attorneys won the case in the U.S, Fourth Cir- cuit Court of Appeals last November. The hospitals involved in this case, and many others in the south, have defended their racial policies om the ground that they were "private" and not subject to the Fourteenth Amendment. The Fourth Circuit decision rejected that argument. The two Greensboro hospitals received money under the Hill-Burton Act, which forbids discrimination in general, but maintains a key clause: "An exception shall be made in cases where separate hospital facilities are provided for separate population groups, if the plan makes equitable provision on the basis of need for facilities and services of like quality for each group." This is the provision held invalid by the Fourth Circuit Court, whose action was left standing by the Supreme Court. NAACP Legal Defense Fund attorneys, responsible for the victory in addition to Mr. Greenberg, include Conrad 0. Pearson, Durham, N.C.; James M, Nabrit, III and Michael Meltsner, of New York City. = 40 =