Alabama "Sit-In" Case Taken to U.S. Supreme Court

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Press Releases, Loose Pages. Alabama "Sit-In" Case Taken to U.S. Supreme Court, 1962. 3e1f0106-bd92-ee11-be37-6045bddb811f. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/f4ac707a-220b-46e3-8756-5efc085cf7b6/alabama-sit-in-case-taken-to-us-supreme-court. Accessed July 18, 2025.

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    ‘PRESS RELEASE 

NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND 
TOCOLUMBUS CIRCLE + NEW YORK19,N.Y. © JUdson6-8397 

DR. ALLAN KNIGHT CHALMERS JACK GREENBERG CONSTANCE BAKER MOTLEY 
President General Counsel Associate Counsel 

Ss 

January 31, 1962 

ALABAMA "SIT-IN" CASE TAKEN 
TO U. S. SUPREME COURT 

NEW YORK - The U. S. Supreme Court was petitioned today to review the 

cases of 10 Negro youths who conducted lunch counter demonstrations 

in Birmingham, Ala. in March 1960. 

In its petition for certiorari, NAACP Legal Defense and Educa- 

tional Fund attorneys asked the high Court to review a judgment of the 

Alabama Court of Appeals of May 30, 1961, which upheld the demonstra- 

tors’ convictions. 

The youths, on March 30, 1960, sat-in in groups of two's at five 

store lunch counters in Birmingham: Pizitz's, Loveman's, Newberry's, 

Kress's and Woolworth's. 

The "sit-iners" were asked to go to counters reserved for Negroes 

and when they refused, were arrested by city police. There was no 

disturbance at any of the demonstrations. 

The youths were convicted in Recorder's Court of the City of 

" and later sentenced to Birmingham for "trespassing after warning," 

thirty days hard labor and $100.00 fine by the Circuit Court of 

Jefferson County. 

The Defense Fund petition contends that the demonstrators were 

denied due process of law becauee a Birmingham segregation ordinance 

requires racial segregation of eating establishments, and thus " pre- 

sents a plain conflict with numerous prior decisions of the Supreme 

Court invalidating state efforts to require racial segregation." 

The Negro youths who are petitioners in the case, are James 

Gober, James A. Davis, Roy Hutchinson, Robert J. King, Robert Parker, 

William West, Rebert D. Sanders, Roosevelt Westmoreland, Jessie 

Walker, and Willie J. Willis, all of Birmingham. 



=e 

Today's petition for certiorari becomes the ninth "sit-in" case 

pending before the U. S. Supreme Court. Five of the cases are from 

Virginia, two from Maryland, and one from North Carolina. 

NAACP Legal Defense Fund attorneys representing the Negro youths 

are Arthur D. Shores, Peter A. Hall, Orzell Billingsley, Jr., Oscar 

W. Adams, Jr., and J. Richmond Pearson, all of Birmin » and Jack 

Greenberg, Constance Baker Motley, Leroy D. Clark, Michael Meltsner, 

and James M. Nabrit, III, all of New York City. 

er

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Alabama "Sit-In" Case Taken to U.S. Supreme Court

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