Word: motels
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Limitations." In an opinion written by one of its two Southerners, Texan Tom C. Clark, the court dismissed arguments by Georgia's Heart of Atlanta Motel and Ollie's Barbecue in Birmingham, Ala., that they could not be compelled to accommodate Negroes under the guise of regulating commerce...
Slavery & Servitude. The Supreme Court also rejected arguments that forcing a motel or restaurant owner to serve Negroes amounts to "involuntary servitude" (which, ironically, is prohibited under the anti-slavery 13th Amendment) for the proprietor. Clark cited the ancient common-law rule that inn keepers must serve any well-behaved person, also noted that longstanding public accommodations laws in 32 states have never been successfully challenged...
This whole line of reasoning was easily applied by the court in the case of the Heart of Atlanta Motel, which fronts on an interstate highway, welcomes white transients, advertises in national magazines, and gets 75% of its guests from outside Georgia. Ollie's Barbecue was a tougher problem, since it is eleven blocks from the nearest interstate highway, does not advertise, seeks no transients. Although it is in a Negro neighborhood and employs 24 Negroes, it serves Negroes only from a take-out counter. Yet Ollie's beef-some $70,000 worth last year-was purchased from...
...Must Bow." Upon hearing of the decision, Moreton Rolleston, president of the Heart of Atlanta Motel, complained: "This makes possible a socialistic state." Ollie McClung Sr., co-owner of Ollie's Barbecue, declared: "I'm shocked...
...despite their distress, Ollie, 48, and his son Ollie Jr., 24, announced that "as law-abiding Americans, we feel we must bow to this edict." Two hours later, five Negroes walked into Ollie's -which grosses some $450,000 annually-and were served. As for the motel, it had begun accepting Negroes under an earlier federal court order, but only five couples had applied so far-probably because its rates are the highest in Atlanta. And even Rolleston took a philosophical view of the eventual outcome of such race controversies. "With my grandchildren, there...