Ivan Allen address, 1962 NAACP National Convention

              EXCERPTS OF REMARKS BY MAYOR IVAN ALLEN, JR.,
AT NAACK 53RD ANNUAL CONVENTION MUNICIPAL
AUDITORIUM, ATLANTA, GEORGIA JULY 2, 1962,
8 P.M.
In plain, simple terms the Supreme Court by its previous
actions and subsequent decisions has left no doubt in the minds of
responsible,thinking people.
These decisions of the Court are killing racial discrimination
in public and semi-public places.
It should be recognized, however, that such discriminations
are still suffering the throes of rigor mortis not only in the South
but in the balance of the nation.  This has always been the case in
every type of social evolution.
The emancipation of the women in America through their right
to vote, too, was a long and continuous fight.  Even after the
passage of legislation, the full opportunity of woman suffrage was
not provided for many years.
No more bitter struggle ever came about than when the courts
curtailed the right of business to hire child labor and destroy
young lives. Bitterly fought, it was a continuous struggle for
almost two decades before these laws gained full public acceptance.
The social security programs of the Federal government in the
middle Thirties were obstructed by bitterness, selfishness, misrepresentation and every other conceivable obstacle. Today they
stand as a monument to the wisdom of the people of this country and
provide the sound basis of our great welfare..
All this pattern is evident in the Court's decisions to force
full acceptance of civil and personal rights to all the citizens of
this country* It is an acceptance that will be bitterly contested
for a long number of years and will be determined in Its final
analysis by an open approach of every citizen.
There are people in Atlanta who feel strongly and moderately
on both sides of this issue. They are roughly divided into three
groups, one-third of which is occupied by the Negro citizen. Observing the right of all men to freely express themselves, to the right
of self-determination, to the right of personal selection and
private privilege, in the final analysis the decision, whatever it