On This Day spotlights a historic New York Times front-page article. For teaching ideas, visit this resource.
1956
HIGH COURT RULES BUS SEGREGATION UNCONSTITUTIONAL
By Luther A. Huston
Special to The New York Times
Washington, Nov. 13—An Alabama law and a city ordinance requiring segregation of races on intrastate buses were declared invalid by the Supreme Court today.
The Court affirmed a ruling by a three-judge Federal court that held the challenged statutes “violate the due process and equal protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.”
The Fourteenth Amendment provides that no state shall deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law nor deny to any citizen the equal protection of the laws.
In upholding the lower court’s judgment, the Supreme Court cited its 1954 decision outlawing racial discrimination in public parks and on public golf courses.
[Officials of several Southern states indicated they would continue to enforce bus segregation laws despite the court’s decision. Segregationist leaders were bitter in their denunciations of the court and its ruling.]
This event occurred on Nov. 13, but appeared in the Nov. 14 issue of The New York Times. Read the entire article or explore this issue in full in TimesMachine.
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