Arizona sun., 1961-10-12
ice BANS

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mong their states without being
penalized and prosecuted because
of their color. 1t means that there
will be no East or West Berlins
in our country" ~
Mr.. Wilkins said the Freedom
Riders .dramatized for the nation
and the world the continued seq
regation in Alabama and Missis-
sippi and thus compelled swift ac-
ton by the TCC."
On Nov. Is, 1855, the ICC hand
ed down a ruling banning segre-
cation of interstate passengers in
rail and bus transportation and
in waiting rooms of stations. Rail
roads, bus companies and termi-
mails were given until January 10,
1856 to cease segregating Negro
interstate passengers.
The ruling was the result of a
comprehensive complaint by the
NAACP with the ICC on Dec. IA,
1858. Named in the complaint, fill
ed on behalf of the NAACP, as an
organization, and II individuals,
were II railroads. the Richmond,
Va, Terminal Co., and the Union
News Company which was operat-
ing a Jim Grow restaurant in the
Richmond Terminal. The u. S.
Department of Justice submitted
a brief as friend Of the court in
support Of the NAACP position.
The Commission, at that time,
dismissed the complaint against
the Union News Company on the
ground that restaurant facilities
were not an integral part of a
transportation system and, accord
ingly, not subject to the jurisdic-
ton of the Commission
In his communication to t h e
ICC urging the present action, At
torney General Kennedy cited as
grounds for a new ruling three
cases handled by Robert L. Carter,
NAACP general counsel. These
included a 1855 suit against the
st. Louis-San Francisco Railroad;
the Bruce Boynton suit against
the State of Virginia, and Keys v.
Carolina Coach Co. Favorable de-
cisions were won in all three suits.
IA United States Supreme Court
decision in 1860 established the
right of Mr.. Boynton, a Howard
University law student, to service
in restaurants in interstate bus
terminals. A 1855 decision, in Keys
v. Carolina Coach Co., held a state
could not compel Negro interstate
passengers to occupy assigned
seats apart firm other passengers.
An earlier case, which also paved
the way for the present ruling, was
Morgan v. Virginia in 1916. The
NAACP won a decision which re-
strained the State of Virginia from
applying local Jim Crow statutes
to interstate travellers. Miss Irene
Morgan, travelling from Washington
across the Potomac to Virginia,
had refused to move to rear seat.
Her case was carried through the
Virginia courts to the U. S. Su-
preme Court.
It was the NAACP case, Gayle
v. Browder, which terminated the
year-long Montgomery, Ala, bus
protest in 1856. The Supreme Court
on Nov. 13, 1856, affirmed a three
Judge federal district court decis-
ion invalidating the Alabama stat
utes and Montgomery ordinance
requiring segregation on city buses.
In another case Flemming VS..
South Carolina Electric & Gas Co.,
the Supreme Court, on April 18,
1856, in effect sustained a ruling
of the U. S. Circuit Court of Ap-
peals that a plaintiff did not have
to change her seat on a South Caro-
lima bus to comply with the states
segregation law, thus knocking out
that statute. This was the first de-
cision banning Jim Crow in local
and intrastate transportation.