National Highway Construction Law Ignored in Tennessee, LDF Advises U.S. Court of Appeals

Press Release
December 8, 1967

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- f10cdc51-b892-ee11-be37-00224827e97b

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Press Releases, Volume 5. National Highway Construction Law Ignored in Tennessee, LDF Advises U.S. Court of Appeals, 1967. f10cdc51-b892-ee11-be37-00224827e97b. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/f08c96a1-32ac-4b36-b6b9-4ef021a7fdbc/national-highway-construction-law-ignored-in-tennessee-ldf-advises-us-court-of-appeals. Accessed November 23, 2025.

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    President 
Hon. Francis E. Rivers 

PRESS RELEASE pecs 
egal efense lund Jack Greenberg 

NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND, INC. Bien Fete Baars 
Jesse DeVore, Jr. 
NIGHT NUMBER 212-749-8487 10 Columbus Circle, New York, N.Y. 10019 * JUdson 6-8397 

FOR RELEASE 
FRIDAY 
DECEMBER 8, 1967 

NATIONAL HIGHWAY CONSTRUCTION 
LAW IGNORED IN TENNESSEE, LDF 
ADVISES U.S. COURT OF APPEALS 

Fisk, Meharry, Vanderbilt and others in Jeopardy 

CINCINNATI---NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., (LDF) at- 
torneys will appear here today in the U.S. Court of Appeals in an at- 
tempt to permanently halt construction of an interstate highway 
through the Negro district of Nashville, Tenn. 

LDF Director-Counsel, Jack Greenberg, will argue that the proposed 
path of Interstate-40 would bring "destruction and irreparable damage 
to Negro-owned businesses, colleges, universities, schools, churches 
and residential areas." 

LDF attorneys won a temporary restraining order three weeks ago against 
construction of the highway. 

Their complaint names Governor Buford Ellington, Highways Commissioner 
Charles W. Spright, and Nashville Mayor Beverly Briley. 

LDF attorneys will today tell the Appeals Court that: 

* the Federal Highway Act requires that state highway departments 
consider adverse economic effects, on local communities, as a 
determining factor in plotting highway routes. Tennessee, they 
maintain, did not 

a no public hearing was held to discuss construction plans prior 
to their approval and implementation 

* the highway was arbitrarily routed through the Negro district 

* the routing was not coordinated with any comprehensive plan of 
land use 

* the Negro community was denied due process and equal protection 
of the law as required under the 14th Amendment. 

LDF attorneys are representing the Nashville I-40 Steering Committee, 
an unincorporated group of Negro and white citizens formed to protect 
the North Nashville section of the city. 

Among the institutions represented on the Committee are Fisk and Van- 
derbilt Universities, Scarritt, George Peabody, and Meharry Medical 
Colleges, and St. Vincent dePaul Parish and School. 

Others include the Metropolitan Human Relations Committee, Nashville 
Christian Leadership Conference, the Baptist Sunday School Publishing 
Board, and numerous local church groups. 

LDF attorney Avon Williams is the local counsel. He is joined by LDF 
Director-Counsel Greenberg, James M. Nabrit III, Charles H. Jones, Ties 
and Michael Davidson, all of New York City. 

=302 

NOTE: The NAACP Legal Defense and Educztional Fund, Inc. (LDF) is a 
separate and distinct organization from the NAACP. Its correct desig- 
nation is NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., which is 
shortened to L.D.F.

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National Highway Construction Law Ignored in Tennessee, LDF Advises U.S. Court of Appeals

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