Heart of Atlanta Five Black Pastors and the Supreme Court Victory for Integration

The Heart of Atlanta Supreme Court decision stands among the court’s most significant civil rights rulings.

In Atlanta, Georgia, two arch segregationists vowed to flout the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the sweeping slate of civil rights reforms just signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson. The Pickrick restaurant was run by Lester Maddox, soon to be governor of Georgia. The other, the Heart of Atlanta motel, was operated by lawyer Moreton Rolleston Jr.
 
After the law was signed, a group of ministry students showed up for a plate of skillet-fried chicken at Maddox’s diner. At the Heart of Atlanta, the ministers reserved rooms and walked to the front desk.
 
Lester Maddox greeted them with a pistol, axe handles, and a mob of White supporters. Moreton Rolleston refused to accept the Black patrons. These confrontations became the centerpiece of the nation's first two legal challenges to the Civil Rights Act.
 
In gripping detail built from exclusive interviews and original documents, Heart of Atlanta reveals the saga of the case’s rise to the US Supreme Court, which unanimously rejected the segregationists.
 
Heart of Atlanta restores the legal cases and their heroes to their proper place in history.
 

Ronnie Greene is a veteran investigative reporter, who, over the years, has worked at the Center for Public Integrity, the Associated Press, and the Miami Herald. He is currently in the DC bureau of Reuters as Washington enterprise editor. He is the author of Shots on the Bridge, a narrative of the police shootings of unarmed innocents on the Danziger Bridge in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina; and Night Fire, an exposé of Shell Oil's toxic waste pollution of the African American district of Norco, LA, a company town. He lives near Washington, DC.

Prologue: A Presidential Plea, a Legal Fight Alighted
1: An Awakening in Atlanta
2: Lester Maddox: ‘Stand Up for America
3: King’s Lessons, and Bloodshed in the South
4: A Revolt Hatched in a Seminary
5: Filibuster, Politicking, and the Vote that Saved JFK’s Plan
6: Heart of Atlanta v. USA: The First Legal Challenge Arrives
7: Pickrick Showdown: Axe Handles, Guns, and Fists
8: The Courtroom Showdowns
9: Two Major Rulings, and a Backlash to the Supreme Court
10: The Ministers and Pickrick: Back for Seconds, Thirds
11: ‘The People’s Court’ and the Heart of Atlanta Motel
12: Arguments Before the High Court
13: Judgment Day: The U.S. Supreme Court Rules
14: More Shoves, Venom, and Axe Handles
15: Closing Time at The Pickrick & Lester Maddox Cafeteria
16: A New Governor in Georgia61
Epilogue: Legacy
About the Research
Acknowledgments