THE N.A.A.C.P. LEGAL DEFENSE REPORT AND EDUCATIONAL FUND VOL. ill, No.2 JUNE, 1965 Lawrence, Clark, Warren, Griswold & Howe Spearhead Legal Defense Fund Boston Meet

UNITY SOUGHT BOSTON - "THE FuND (NAACP Legal --!TefenSll-and -Educational cFurnlris-pledged-·­ to provide legal counsel and assistance to any organization or individual having bona fide Co:ristitutional claim to violation of civil rights. In view of its name, many are sur­ prised to hear that it has no formal ties with the National Association for the Advance­ ment of Colored People. Like the Southern Regional Council, it doesn't as a rule get the headlines. But like the council, quietly in the background it does effective, indispensable DINNER PRINCIPLES- Chatting at the close of SELMA'S F1RST LADY- Mrs. Amelia Boynton, the dinner, from le/IJ are Harvard Law Dean Erwin leader of the voter registratWn drive in Dallas work." N. Griswold, toastmaster, NAACP Legal Defense Fund Director-Counsel lack Greenberg, speaker, County, (Selma) Ala., gives her impressions of Generally sharing the Christiau Science Borough President Constance Baker Boston to Mass. Lt. Gov. Elliot L. Richardson. He Monitor's editorial opinion of the Fund, civil Motley, speaker, and Attorney Grenville Clark, gave the opening address o/ the Convocation. rights leaders and met at the Con­ honoree. vocation -"Equal Justice Under Law." The discussions ranged from problems of civil rights litigation to the future nature of social BOSTON COMMITTEE ASKS SUPPORT revolution. BOSTON- In warm tones, often breaking with deep emotion, Attorney Grenville Clark Starting with opening remarks by Massa­ explained to 300 dinner guests of the Greater Boston Committee of the NAACP Legal chusetts Lt. Gov. Elliot L Richardson, the Defense and Educational Fund, the current and future needs of increased legal action in Convocation had such participants as Mrs. order to secure adequate civil for Negro Americans. istration leader, Grenville Clark, prominent was constitutional , John Doar, Chief, Under Law"- and Mr. Clark for his 60 years as a statesman, lawyer and strong Civil Rights Div., U. S. Justice Dept.; Di· advocate of civil liberties. rector·Counsel Jack Greenberg; Joseph L. Mrs. Richard Warren was chairman of the affair. Rauh,J r., Counsel, United Automobile Work. Mr. Clark, who spoke proudly of New England's tradition of revolution and liberalism, ers; , Organizer, March on urged the group to take the leadership in the current civil rights revolution. It was his Washington; and Miss Marian Wright, Jack­ opinion that the great human sacrifice of the people on the "front lines" should not be son, Mississippi Legal Defense Attorney. stymied by the lack of money. Mark DeWolfe Howe, professor, Harvard Pointing to the wealth of the Boston area, Mr. Clark said, "We can well afford to pledge Law School, served as Convocation Chair­ and produce $1 00,000.00 a year toward the ever increasing budget of the NAACP Legal man. Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., a vital and indispensable organization." The Fund acts as the legal arm for the entire and is presently The one consistent point made by every defending l,700 individuals. The cases date hack as far as the "freedom rides" and are as speaker, a point that is fast gaining general recent as the thousands arrested during the voter registration demonstrations in Selma, public acceptance, was that the so-called Alabama. Negro problems is actually an American problem and its solution will benefit the Earlier in the evening, Toastmaster Erwin N. Griswold, Dean of the , whole of our society. introduced speakers Constance Baker Motley, President of the Borough of Manhattan and former Associate Counsel of the Defense Fund, and NAACP Legal Defense Fund Director­ Emphasizing this point, Mr. Rustin­ Counsel Jack Greenberg. referred to by t~e Boston Herald as being "By a couple of million volts, the most elec­ Mrs. Motley focussed on school desegregation during her speech and pointed to the Conlinued on Other Side vastness of the legal problem involved in realizing meaningful school integration. "There are now 124 education cases pending in the deep South. I believe.lhat figure wiH triple within the next few years," she said. Mrs. Motley, who headed the legal fight that gained admission to the University of Mississippi, viewed the progress to date as meaningless tokenism. "But I think in a few years the real revolution in3ducation in the South will begin," Mrs. Motley said. "Then the Negro parents will .:Cealize they must take their children to white schools." "We have just begun to fight in this school integration field," she concluded. Mr. Greenberg: looking at the broad spectrum of social change, said, HEfforts of civil rights lawyers have brought favorable results to society as a whole. Recognition of poverty was forced upon the country; and, the civil rights movement has acted as a spur- along with the arrival of Sputnik- upon the quality of education. "The race problem, by an accident of history, is forcing the country to grapple with the problem of all," Mr. Greenberg said. Mr. Greenberg also shared with the dinner guests new plans of attack the Fund has INTEGRATION PROBLEMS- Paul Parks, Bos­ designed for the future. Among them are: ton school integration leader, left, discusses general problems of school integration with John Doar, • Surv~ys of Southern school systems tO ascertain those that are taking no action on deseg- Civil Rights Division Chief, and Gustav Hening­ regation. _ _ burg, Assistant to the President, NAACP Legal Defense Fund. Mr. PfNks presided over the Lunch­ • Federal suits ;;{sainst industries and iocal governments to establish a theory that industries eon meeting; Mr. Doar was the main speaker. Continued on Other Side BOSTON COMMITTEE ASKS SUPPORT Continued from Page 1 receiving state and local development assistance are subject to the restrictions of the 14th Amendment, which establishes the equal rights and privileges of citizens. • Suits seeking to apply the Sherman Antitrust Act to combinations practicing racial dis­ crimination, such as local real estate boards and organizations of real estate brokers. Mr. Greenberg extended his thanks to James Lawrence, Jr., Grenville Clark, Mrs. Richard Warren, Dean Erwin N. Griswold, Professor Mark DeWolfe Howe, and the Greater Boston Committee for the success of the Convocation.

UNITY SOUGHT "At present, I can count the number of Continued from Page 1 Southern white lawyers handling civil rights cases on the fingers of one hand and have a tric idea man in the civil rights movement" finger or two left over," he said. - said: "The civil rights movement forced the country to look at its Negro ghettoes, and Miss Wright complained that "It is a sad then to shift its gaze to the poor white ghet- indictment of law schools like those of Har- toes, in Appalachia as in the big cities." vard and Yale, that the way had to be shown John Doar tied-in the broad breakdown in in the civil rights movement by oppressed respect for government, by young people, people taking to the streets." when he said: "The country has paid a ter­ Mrs. Boynton, who was man-handled and rible price for failure of the law to correct jailed by Sheriff James Clark during Selma voting injustices, in the growing disillusion­ voter registration demonstrations, thanked ment of young people with its institutions." supporters of the movement in Boston, say­ "The worst losses often occur just before ing, "when you lend us a helping hand, you the victory," said Mr. Rauh, concerned about are helping the whites as well as the the potential threat to public safety an op­ Negroes." pressed and frustrated people represent, "but if we can get one bill, one all-out bill, maybe Other participants in the Convocation in­ we can walk the last mile without violence," cluded: Donald L. Hollowell, Fund cooperat­ he said. ing attorney in Atlanta, Georgia, the Rev. In the South, the basic problem involved Robert F. Drinan, S.J., dean of the Boston in resolving America's number one domestic College Law School and Paul Parks, engi­ issue in ~ courts, rather than in the streets, neer and Boston school integration leader. was pointed-up by Legal Defense Fund Di­ The meetings were held at the Harvard Law rector-Counsel Green~erg. School.