Eviction Procedures of Low Income Public Housing Projects Attacked in Atlanta
Press Release
March 20, 1967

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Press Releases, Volume 4. Eviction Procedures of Low Income Public Housing Projects Attacked in Atlanta, 1967. 72a07a9f-b792-ee11-be37-00224827e97b. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/f29d84a5-e831-4c72-80a8-2f4a6c36c600/eviction-procedures-of-low-income-public-housing-projects-attacked-in-atlanta. Accessed April 19, 2025.
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President Hon, Francis E. Rivers PRESS RELEASE Director-Counsel egal efense und Jack Greenberg Director, Public Relations NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND, INC. Jesse DeVore, Jr. 10 Columbus Circle, New York, N.Y. 10019 * JUdson 6-8397 NIGHT NUMBER 212-749-8487 FOR RELEASE MONDAY March 20, 1967 EVICTION PROCEDURES OF LOW INCOME PUBLIC HCUSING PROJECTS ATTACKED IN ATLANTA LDF Represents Indigent Mother of Four ATLANTA-=--The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) attorneys represented Miss Josephine Williams, an indigent mother of four, residing in the Perry Homes, a public housing project in Atlanta, Georgia, this week in the U.S. District Court here. LDF attorneys Howard Moore and Charles H. Jones, Jr. maintained that Miss Williams was denied due process and equal protection of the law as a result of the eviction proceedings lodged against her by officials of Perry Homes, They argued that Miss Williams had no hearing before her eviction and that her inability to post a large cast bond before she could defend the eviction in a state court denied her equal protection available to the more affluent, LDF attorneys maintain that this case has wide implications because: * The regulations of the Atlanta Housing Authority, which allow "arbitrary" treatment of Miss Williams, are typical of many of those which govern the-2,045 low-income housing developments across the nation. Some 2.3 million people live in low-income public housing developments. * In this specific instance, Miss Williams happens to be a Negro, but white low-income public housing residents are also exposed to the same regulations. The Ford Foundation recently bestowed a one million dollar grant to the LDF--the largest single grant in civil rights history--for the establishment and support of the National Office for the Rights of the Indigent (NCRI), NORI will handle cases such as that of Miss Williams. The involved sequence of events follows chronologically: 12/8/66: Officials of the Atlanta Housing Authority filed a summary eviction notice against Miss Williams. 12/12/66: LDF attorneys filed a motion to defend Miss Williams in Fulton County Civil Court without posting bond, 2/28/67: Fulton County Civil Court denied LDF motion, LDF attorneys filed motion for a stay of Miss Williams’ eviction in the Fulton County Civil Court. LDF attorneys filed motion for stay of eviction with the Georgia Supreme Court, 3/4/67: LDF attorneys pre-filed application for stay of eviction with Mr, Justice Black of the U.S. Supreme Court. 3/8/67: Fulton County Civil Court denied LDF motion for a stay of Miss Williams' eviction. Georgia Supreme Court denied motion for stay of eviction. Mr, Justice Black denied LDF applica- tion for stay of eviction. Mr. Justice Brennan of the U.S. Supreme Court denied LDF application for stay of eviction. 3/9/67: LDF attorneys filed a motion in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia seeking a temporary re- straining order and a complaint for a preliminary and per- manent injunction. The U.S. District Court granted LDF attorneys a temporary restraining order blocking the eviction of Miss Williams, and set hearing for March 17, 1967 3/17/67 and 3/20/67: LDF attorneys appeared before a three-judge U.S. District Court in Atlanta in behalf of Miss Williams. 25 => -30-