National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior National Historic Landmarks Program Civil Rights in America: Racial Desegregation of Public Accommodations A National Historic Landmarks Theme Study Cover Photograph: People waiting for a bus at the Greyhound bus terminal, Memphis, Tennessee, September 1943. Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA/OWI Collection [reproduction number: LC-USW3-37974-E]. CIVIL RIGHTS IN AMERICA: RACIAL DESEGREGATION OF PUBLIC ACCOMMODATIONS A National Historic Landmarks Theme Study Prepared by: Susan Cianci Salvatore, Project Manager & Preservation Planner, National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers Consultant Essays prepared by the Organization of American Historians: Matt Garcia, Historian Alton Hornsby, Jr., Historian Steven Lawson, Historian Theresa Mah, Historian Produced by: The National Historic Landmarks Program Cultural Resources National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Washington, D.C. 2004, Revised 2009 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................................... 1 HISTORIC CONTEXTS African American Part One, 1775-1900 ..................................................................................................................................... 5 Part Two, 1900-1941 .................................................................................................................................. 21 Part Three, 1941-1954 ................................................................................................................................ 32 Part Four, 1954-1964 .................................................................................................................................. 43 Hispanic ..................................................................................................................................................... 84 Asian American ....................................................................................................................................... 109 NATIONAL HISTORIC LANDMARKS REGISTRATION GUIDELINES ................................... 119 METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................................................ 126 SURVEY RESULTS Properties Recognized as Nationally Significant ...................................................................................... 128 National Historic Landmarks Study List ................................................................................................. 130 Properties Removed from Further Study .................................................................................................. 134 Table 1. Properties Recognized as Nationally Significant ....................................................................... 139 Table 2. National Historic Landmarks Study List ................................................................................... 140 Table 3. Properties Removed from Further Study .................................................................................. 141 Areas for Further Research ....................................................................................................................... 143 BIBLIOGRAPHY African American, Pre World War II ........................................................................................................ 144 African American, Post World War II ...................................................................................................... 147 Hispanic .................................................................................................................................................... 154 Asian American ........................................................................................................................................ 157 General ...................................................................................................................................................... 159 APPENDICES A. Chronological List of Selected Local/National Movements ............................................................... 160 B. Chronology of the May 1961 Freedom Ride: Alabama & Mississippi ............................................... 164 C. Civil Rights Acts, Interstate Commerce Commission Rulings, & U.S. Supreme Court Rulings ....... 166 Introduction 1 INTRODUCTION Marian Anderson performing at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C. on April 9, 1939. Marian Anderson Collection, Rare Book & Manuscript Library, University of Pennsylvania. Introduction 2 INTRODUCTION In 1999 the U.S. Congress directed the National Park Service to conduct a multi-state study of civil rights sites to determine the national significance of the sites and the appropriateness of including them in the National Park System. To determine how best to proceed, the National Park Service partnered with the Organization of American Historians to develop an overview of civil rights history entitled, Civil Rights in America: A Framework for Identifying Significant Sites (2002, rev. 2008). The framework concluded that while a number of civil rights sites had been designated as National Historic Landmarks, other sites needed to be identified and evaluated. Taking this into account, the framework recommended that a National Historic Landmarks theme study be prepared to identify sites that may be nationally significant, and that the study be based on provisions of the 1960s civil rights acts. These include the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (covering voting rights, equal employment, public accommodations, and school desegregation enforcement), the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Fair Housing Act of 1968. This specific portion of the study focuses on the aspect of public accommodations.1 Inclusion in the National Park System first requires that properties meet the National Historic Landmark criteria, and then meet additional tests of suitability and feasibility. To establish guidance on meeting landmark criteria, this study provides a historic context within which properties may be evaluated for their significance in civil rights and establishes registration guidelines for National Historic Landmark consideration. Completion of this study will also assist in the identification of sites for National Historic Landmark evaluation. Public Accommodations Overview The physical separation of the races in public accommodations was a resented and demeaning practice for those denied equal access. Segregation in theaters, restaurants, hotels, and buses was a constant irritant in everyday life and an insulting inconvenience. It resulted in direct confrontations between racial minorities claiming the right to pay for goods and services in the marketplace, and white business owners who claimed the right to serve whom they chose. Overall, the civil rights movement forced federal intervention that destroyed the legal foundations of racism and transformed race relations in the nation, particularly the South. The resulting 1964 Civil Rights Act “was a landmark in legislative attempts to improve the quality of life for African Americans and other minority groups.” Title II of the act “[o]utlawed discrimination in hotels, motels, restaurants, theaters, and all other public accommodations engaged in interstate commerce.”2 A thorough study of desegregation of public accommodations requires an initial understanding of how racial segregation has operated in the United States. Segregation did not occur uniformly throughout the United States, and the form and content of this practice changed over time. Variations in this practice had much to do with the places in which they occurred and the groups involved. This study’s emphasis on “racial” segregation and desegregation suggests, however, 1 In the area of school desegregation, the National Park Service partnered with the Organization of American Historians to complete a National Historic Landmarks Theme Study entitled, “Racial Desegregation in Public Education in the United States” (2000). Other topics to be covered in future chapters of the civil rights story include housing, equal employment, and voting. 2 Quoted material from “Major Features of the Civil Rights Act of 1964,” at http://www.congresslink.org/ print_basics_histmats_civilrights64text.htm, The Dirksen Congressional Center, maintained by CongressLink, accessed March 23, 2009. Introduction 3 that the denial of equal access to public accommodations to a group or groups had much to do with the common experience of being labeled nonwhite, and therefore not worthy of equal access on racial grounds. What made each group nonwhite differed from place to place, but the fact that these beliefs applied to various groups in different locations throughout the nation over many years is a testament to the ways in which race has shaped our society. State laws, local ordinances, and customs that segregated whites and blacks were also applied to other minorities. To represent this aspect, this study expands beyond the African American story to include the Hispanic and Asian American stories. Of special note in documenting the Hispanic experience in discrimination is the level of documentation available in the area of public accommodation segregation and desegregation as compared to other areas of discrimination. The most documented cases of systematic segregation and desegregation have occurred in the realm