NAACP Legal Defense Fund Wins Vital Albany, Georgia Victory
Press Release
August 5, 1963
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Press Releases, Volume 1. NAACP Legal Defense Fund Wins Vital Albany, Georgia Victory, 1963. b215cd7e-b492-ee11-be37-00224827e97b. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/f24600cf-add1-4382-bfc3-1502c55a79fd/naacp-legal-defense-fund-wins-vital-albany-georgia-victory. Accessed December 16, 2025.
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NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND
TOCOLUMBUS CIRCLE + NEW YORK19,N.Y. © JUdson6-8397
DR. ALLAN KNIGHT CHALMERS JACK GREENBERG
President Director-Counsel
CONSTANCE BAKER MOTLEY
Associate Counsel
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FOR RELEASE: Monday A.M., August 5, 1963
NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE FUND WINS
VITAL ALBANY, GEORGIA VICTORY
ALBANY, GA.--The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund today
announced the first major breakthrough in the long-stymied racial
crisis here.
The U. S, Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit, has ordered a lower
court to issue an injunction against city officials here that will
allow Negro citizens to enjoy many of the goals sought during months
of peaceful demonstrations.
Mrs. Constance Baker Motley, Legal Defense Fund Associate
Counsel, who was chief counsel during the long proceedings, pointed 5
out that Albany officials have been busily selling the city's swim- ‘
ming pool facilities to private individuals. ‘
“We shall have to go back to court to test the validity of these
sales, But the decision is clear that all public facilities sought
to be desegregated by this suit must be open to Albany's Negro citi-
"she said. zens,
Albany flared into the nation's headlines during the summer of
1962. The Albany Movement was under the leadership of Dr. W. G.
Anderson. Dr. Martin Luther King and the Southern Christian Leader-
ship Conference also participated in the demonstrations.
NAACP Legal Defense Fund attorneys stressed that Albany's Negro
citizens sought:
* the end of state enforced racial segregation in all public
parks, libraries and city auditorium;
* the end of city laws requiring segregation in taxicabs,
theatres and on buses;
“x the end of arrests for attempting to use public recreation,
transportation, and library facilities on an integrated
= basis.
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Mrs. Motley, flanked by C, B, King of Albany and Donald L,
Hollowell of Atlanta, pointed out that Dr. Anderson and,other leaders
of the Albany Movement had met with the Mayor and suggested appoint-
ment of a biracial committee to improve the situation before the
demonstrations began.
The Mayor never responded.
Arguments of NAACP Legal Defense Fund attorneys were turned
down after three hearings in the District Court on ground that the
individual Negro plaintiffs were not segregated against personally
while seeking use of public facilities.
The District Court also reasoned that the named Negro plaintiffs
were not representative of Albany Negroes in general.
The U, S, Appeals Court disagreed and ordered the lower court to
issue the injunction sought by the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.
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