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Gentlemen, I have the honor, privilege and responsibility of serving as Mayor of the leading Southeastern City of Atlanta, Georgia. Atlanta has a City population of slightly over 500,000 people and a metropolitan population slightly over l , 100, 000 people. The 500, 000 people that make up the central City of Atlanta consists of 300, 000 I I white citizens and slightly over 200, 000 Negro citizens. In general, Atlanta is 60% white and 40% Negro. Nowhere is the problem of the elimination of discrimination -b tween the race _ more prevalent than it i to the local elected official who must wrestle with and solve this problem created by circ"Um ta.nee beyond bi control and th n ignored by the r sponsible lend definition to th solution. I rties who hould peak of the probl ma having b en brought into iocu by Supreme Court deci ion and then generally i nor d by the Pr sid nt and Congre Faced ly with the of di cl'imin tion often wonder wher most t w hav ol United Stat s. bl problem of the i mination directed by the F deral Court , loc 1 ofiici le mu t the Con r c:1 finition or - aplanation in th probl m '\Ul of th of the Uni d Stat a tand in off ri solution of th mo t diUlcult tional ver had. W cannot h lp but look with mu ement. • • if not euapicion • • • • c rtain member• of th Co rea dtb s 4 nouno th d ciaio a �Page 2 of the Supreme Court and offer no relief to the dilemma that local officials are confronted with in carrying out these decisions. You gentlemen must be conscious of the fact that whereas P resident Kennedy has made two appointments to the Court and there are Eisenhowel' appointments and

Tru.man appointments and Roosevelt appointments, only the Senate of the United States has as an el cted body the continuing function over the years of approving all of thes appointments . What I am aying, gentlemen is -- This is your Court that has brought into focu problem and only you thi could have changed it overall makeup through the ye rs. fe Reg rdlesa of our convictions, ling or . motions in th matter of racial discrimin tion, the time ha c.om wh n we mu t fac simpl f eta. Thea facts either --- w r discrimination or you must provid in thi y t m. probl m when it Kist in l gal means for a two-cast You c nnot continu to -I a sy tem loa l suec auc:c v· k d me her in dealing with th! ful b c us we y tbat this i arly v ry city in Americ

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You be must Uminate r cia.1 country nd carry out through legal el). ctm.ent for local offici 1 to deal with - uch ev up to -- in nearly th N tion. to giv you th r v local problem. c round of Atlanta' ~ically w cc pted th in vitabllity e>.f th ve only Court's �Page 3 decisions and attempted to solve them by local cooperation. It should be perfectly plain that the solution in every instance granted to the .... Negro citizen rights which white American citizens and American business had previously reserved to themselves as special privileges. privileges have been carried out by a multitude of local and These ,(..l,tkfy.,bJ.td statewide ordinances that provided for segregation in every conceivable form. I make it perfectly plain to you gentlemen that in not a single in tance have we enhanced or retained segregated privileges where we have d ealt with this mattel'. Following a series of reasonable desegregation such as golf cour es and bus es in the SOi • Atlanta took the following major step s in the early 60 1 s: D ate A rea A ction 9/61 School C ourt ord r 10/ 61 D partm nt variety luncb. c ount rs l/ 6Z C i ty FacUitie voluntary (city official ) 5/ 62 Downtown nd art - theatre volun 5/ 63 N gro fi r etnen hir -d voluntary (c i ty offici 1 ) 6/63 Swimming pool Court order - voluntary d - ciai on to open pool (city offici 1 ) 6/63 18 1 a.ding hot l · voluntary

voluntary

6/63 tor pproximat ly 33 le din r voluntary .t ction

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In each instance voluntary action consisted of cooperative action between operators of affected businesses and responsible Negro leadership. You can readily see that in some instances this has been under · Court action and in other instances has been vol untary prior to Court action. In each in tance it ha resulted in the white citizen giving up pecial privileg s which be enjoyed under a segregated society and bas Negro ditizen being given rights which all other people re ulted in th had and which he did not previously enjoy. It would tr nsition ba well for me to expl in to you how limited this b en and bow little of it tM Ne ro citizen can in even · t this time. Out of hundred of r d segregatio.n: affect les t urants in Atlanta, th than fifty of them. bov · The hotel plan is based on d . lthough prominent Negvo s hav conv ntion rticipat b e:n cc pt din hotels, th Ne ro citiz n UI as a whole a ldom hows up. With in Atlan , on of Atlanta's leading r urant there h d ixte n . of th m to din ;.-1,.a during th fir t w k of it d s gr tion Z0-0, 000 Negro citiz n and not bad y ince tbi8 clay. All of thi , ntlern n, l of economics and it ahould be remember d that the right to u do low not in y omic y indicate that it wW roup. uaed qu ation eom thing 91 or miau ed by �Page 5 The above statements concern the actual changes in Atlanta' s elimination of discrimination. ..... May I now ubmit to you my per onal reasons why we think Atlanta. ha . resolved ome of these probl ms whereas in other Southern citi a , tb.e solution has seemed to be impossible and strife and conflict have result d . It would be best for me to de crib a rec nt visit of an offiei l delegation from a gr t Eastern city that bas a N gro population of over 600, 000 consisting of in xc:e s of 20% of their whole population. came to Atlanta to det rmine we:i- hy we had gone furth r with ucc s njoying a great conomie pro rity wher and an un mploym nt rate of three tim s of what Atl 'a wa.a. ce bring hav gon to conomic pro perity. , th two tall of our civic ould -rdly b li ffort to solve ·oui- anv t1l y t di • · .eked by th d e rrted out by the City Go~rnm•nt . maelv•• with d d political int r st of AU nta had in~ ntly U with ita N gro popul tion. l do · that they ar convinced t int•re t sadly referrin that th r. busln s , civic concerned it pproxima.ti ly How v r, in Atl n tion ehnply did not under tand t th and they w re having unlimit d racial probl m I am not n c They blic e daily co cern d t problem •• 'Ill, and that 18 �Page 6 race relations. Gentlemen, Atlanta bas n ot swept this question under rug at any point. Step by step .. sometimes under Court order - th sometimes voluntarily moving ahead of preasures - sometimes adroitly' an.d many time clumsily - we hav tried to find a solution through an £feet d whit own rship and the Negro 1 adersbip agreement between the to each of these probl ms . have not appoint d a. huge bi- racial eommittee that To do this w b com a stop-gap for every cone ivable que _tion, but on the oth r ha.J)d each tim th probl m bas eome into focus , own r to deal with th · top N the top N gro le der ro 1 der e have appointed th atre .. or hot l own l' to de - or voluntarily e rtain rest urant oWtl l' with dealt with th top N gro lead r hip , and by d v loping th lines of community and rt pectability, w hav b en abl 0th r cit! ba.v work d q to r ac::b n amicable olution. hard and in many in lly have £ led and U 1 would Uk to xplaln to you ucc d d wh r v th y -1,,J:Jt.Mt c why I think we om time f iled . tla.nta b th c n r of high r N gro due tion in th · orld. Th r re six r City Umita. Morna Bro d Coll I They r Atlanta Univ r lty, Cl rk Coll g , Mor Colle e , Spelm • e area. ve ·c t re loc t d inside our Colle d an in rd r •ult of high r umber of int 111 in ln tbi• <:ity. due tio n1~ well-ti-ai o in a oua • t1onal ble ln d N 1ro cut~ n reeuU f thelt tr , and v �---- - Page 7 higher education they have had the capacity to develop a great Negro business comm.unity. 1n Atlanta it consists of financial institutions like banks . - building and loan associations - life insurance companie • Uk the Atlanta Life Insuranc dealers. Company - chain drug stor s - real e tate Jn fact, they have developed, I believe, in almost every line of acknowledged Am rican bu in ss. Then there is another strong factor. In Atlanta there is a strong daily N gro newspaper - Th Atlanta Daily World. Owned and operat d by a prominent Negro family - the Scott family - th y operat chain of daily and we kli s throughout th country. the str rngth of a daily n w paper with ve ted intere t But it i an ducated religious and bu in community that carri eked by its voic to th Negro citizen • Do not be mi led by th word 11 con erva.Uv " a d irou• of dditional civil d economic Am :ric n citi _n ie. They imply r obtain \h nit i right to tb end of obtainin th th m iv · s. to er ate e r1 ht th y r d per onal ri ht a liz that it i ae y mor impo,:tant to mon tr tions. And it i that th y const.antly addr • �