Supreme Court to Hear Memphis Park Segregation Suit

Press Release
November 21, 1962

Supreme Court to Hear Memphis Park Segregation Suit preview

Cite this item

  • Press Releases, Loose Pages. Supreme Court to Hear Memphis Park Segregation Suit, 1962. 11ee0a1e-bd92-ee11-be37-6045bddb811f. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/ff1928a6-50f9-4f26-8dd1-536737e03c27/supreme-court-to-hear-memphis-park-segregation-suit. Accessed October 08, 2025.

    Copied!

    PRESS RELEASE 

NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND 
1O COLUMBUS CIRCLE + NEWYORK19,N.Y. © JUdson 6-8397 

DR. ALLAN KNIGHT CHALMERS JACK GREENBERG CONSTANCE BAKER MOTLEY 
Prosident Director-Counsel Associate Counsel 

a os 

SUPREME COURT TO HEAR 
MEMPHIS PARK SEGREGATION SUIT November 21, 1962 

NEW YORK -- The U. S. Supreme Court agreed this week to hear an NAACP 

Legal Defense Fund appeal involving segregation of park and playground 

facilities in Memphis, Tenn. 

The Court refused to hear an appeal by the City of Jacksonville, 

Fla. involving segregated golf courses. The Court of Appeals for the 

Fifth Circuit had ruled in favor of Legal Defense Fund attorneys last 

summer on the Jacksonville case ordering two golf courses, which had 

been leased to private individuals, to desegregate their facilities. 

The Memphis park suit was filed in 1960. Federal District Judge 

Marion S, Boyd denied an injunction to the Negro plaintiffs on June 20, 

1961. Judge Boyd ruled at that time that the Memphis Park Commission 

was desegregating its facilities gradually and required the Commission 

to submit a desegregation plan in six months. 

On June 12, 1962, the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit 

upheld Judge Boyd's decision. Defense Fund attorney Derrick Bell 

stated that the appeal to the Supreme Court will involve "the isgue of 

whether the all deliberate speed doctrine applies to public facilities 

as well as schools. 

No date has been set for oral argument in the Memphis park case. 

GREENBERG TO DELIVER NEW SCHOOL 
EMANCIPATION CENTENNIAL LECTURE November 21, 1962 

NEW YORK -- Jack Greenberg, Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense 

Fund, will speak on "The Struggle For Freedom In The Law" Monday night, 

November 26 at the New School for Social Research. 

Mr, Greenberg's lecture is the sixth in a series at the New 

School in observance of the 100th Anniversary of the Emancipation 

Proclamation. 

Judge Thurgood Marshall had originally been scheduled to give the 

November 26th lecture but cancelled because of his judicial duties. 

Mr. Greenberg succeeded Judge Marshall as chief NAACP Legal Defense 

Fund attorney in 1961. He is the author of Race Relations and American 

Law, co-author of Citizen's Guide to Deseareqation, and is currently 

at work on a study of civil liberties in 17 countries.

Copyright notice

© NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.

This collection and the tools to navigate it (the “Collection”) are available to the public for general educational and research purposes, as well as to preserve and contextualize the history of the content and materials it contains (the “Materials”). Like other archival collections, such as those found in libraries, LDF owns the physical source Materials that have been digitized for the Collection; however, LDF does not own the underlying copyright or other rights in all items and there are limits on how you can use the Materials. By accessing and using the Material, you acknowledge your agreement to the Terms. If you do not agree, please do not use the Materials.


Additional info

To the extent that LDF includes information about the Materials’ origins or ownership or provides summaries or transcripts of original source Materials, LDF does not warrant or guarantee the accuracy of such information, transcripts or summaries, and shall not be responsible for any inaccuracies.