Atlanta Restaurant Suit to Test New Rights Act
Press Release
July 10, 1964

Cite this item
-
Press Releases, Volume 1. Atlanta Restaurant Suit to Test New Rights Act, 1964. e163880a-b592-ee11-be37-00224827e97b. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/fa5d67ad-3c25-4068-8e91-55fad85793ae/atlanta-restaurant-suit-to-test-new-rights-act. Accessed April 22, 2025.
Copied!
10 Columbus Cirele New York, N.Y. 10019 JUdson 6-8397 NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund PRESS RELEASE President Dr. Allan Knight Chalmers July 10, 1964 ’ Director-Counsel ack Greenberg Associate Counsel Constance Baker Motley ATLANTA RESTAURANT SUIT TO TEST NEW *RIGHTS ACT NAACP Legal Defense Fund Attorneys Score Historic "First" ATLANTA, GA.--Federal District Judge Frank A, Hooper here has named Friday (July 17th) as the day on which the new civil rights act will be tested. NAACP Legal Defense Fund attorneys secured an order to have segregationist restaurant owner Lester Maddox “show cause" why Negro citizens should not be served. The suit, filed by Legal Defense Fund Cooperating Attor- ney William Alexander, is in behalf of three Atlanta clergymen. It is the nation's first suit to enforce Title Two of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. It is also the first suit of a series of suits to be filed in hard core southern states, according to Constance Baker Motley, associate counsel of the Fund. In the Atlanta suit, George S. Willis Jr., Woodrow T. Lewis and Albert L. Dunn, all clergymen and students at the Interdenominational Theological Center here, asked the U.S. District Court for an injunction against discriminatory practices of Maddox and the Pickrick Restaurant. The plaintiffs, acting on behalf of themselves and other Negro citizens of Atlanta, were "denied and deprived" ser- vice at the Pickrick on Friday, July 3rd. Maddox, on that day, confronted the neatly dressed Negro clergymen with a drawn pistol. He called for Pickrick cus- tomers to grab ax handles (which he keeps in a box at the door) and charge the Negroes. (more) Jesse DeVore, Jr., Director of Public Information—Night Number 212 Riverside 9-8487 Ses © Atlanta Restaurant Suit -2- July 10, 1964 to Test New "Rights Act Some of his customers, including women, responded and descended on the Negroes, who retreated, saying they would return. The complaint states that discimination against Negroes at the Pickrick is in violation of plaintiffs' rights to full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, priv- ileges, advantages and accommodations of places of public accommodation. The Pickrick restaurant serves and offers to serve inter- state travelers. Its operations affect travel, trade, traf- fic, commerce and transportation between states. A substantial portion of the food it serves moves in commerce. This places it precisely within the scope of the new civil rights act. Meanwhile in New York City, Jack Greenberg, Fund director- counsel, announced that his staff “is prepared to move quickly and vigorously in any community where there is interference with or violation of Negro citizens' rights secured by the new act." A survey this week of the Fund's 120 cooperating attorneys in deep south and border states indicates that compliance to date has been good. However, several suits are imminent in Alabama at this time and the Fund staff has been augmented in the event pockets of defiance erupt, Greenberg said. Joining Alexander and Mrs. Motley in the Atlanta suit was Assistant Counsel Michael Meltsner of the Fund's New York City headquarters. = 302