Right of Access to Public Accommodations

Archive Report

Negroes and Public Accommondations

Congress and the Fight on Racial Discrimination

Impelled by the deepening crisis in race relations, President Kennedy asked Congress on June 19 to enact the most far-reaching civil rights legislation since the Reconstruction Era. The most controversial of the President's several proposals would strike down one of the more painful forms of discrimination against Negroes: the “white only” policy of many hotels, restaurants and other places of public accommodation in the South and, to some extent, in other parts of the country.

Recent court decisions have removed the legal basis for racial segregation in tax-supported facilities such as public parks, golf courses, swimming pools and the like, and have undermined the authority of states and localities to require segregation in facilities operated for ...

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