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{
    "localId": "183523708",
    "label": "Civil Rights – Miscellaneous 1963",
    "core": "doc",
    "dtoType": "document",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/183523708"
}

{
    "id": "183523708",
    "sourceUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/183523708",
    "contentType": "document",
    "title": "Civil Rights – Miscellaneous 1963",
    "description": "October 1963 memo on blacks appointed to positions in the Ohio state government.",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/183523708",
    "collections": [
        "Office Files of Lee C. White",
        "Civil Rights Files"
    ],
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    "hasTranscription": false
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{
    "seq": 101,
    "pageIndex": 0,
    "type": "photo",
    "url": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/presidential-libraries/johnson/lbj-lwhite/40031964/40031964-aides-white-b06-f09-090.jpg",
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    "ocrText": "a place of public accommodation, resort or amusement within the spirit and\nmeaning of the act and must, upon determination as such by the Government Secretary\nor the District Court, be so registered in the Office of the Government Secretary.\nDefinition of Private Club\nThe Virgin Islands Civil Rights Act contains provisions designed to cope\nwith the practice of using the private club device to evade statutory\nprohibitions against racial or religious discrimination. In that connection, I\nshould like to read to you the definition of a club as used in the Civil Rights\nLaw of the Virgin Islands:\n\" 'club' means any association of individuals banded together by their free accord\nfor any lawful purpose. The provisions of this chapter shall not bar any club\norganized and operated exclusively for pleasure, recreation or other noncommercial\npurposes, which is supported by or derives its funds entirely from dues and\ncontributions from its membership. This chapter does not prohibit such lawful\nprivate clubs; it does not regulate their free selection of club membership;\nand does not restrict their freedoms of choice or association. This chapter does,\nhowever, prohibit such clubs, along with all other persons from selling, leasing,\nor renting real estate, and from entering the field of business and commerce by\nselling food or drink or any other commodity or charging for the use of any beach\nor other club facility or service, or from using the license issued to them to do\nso, on any discriminatory basis whatsoever.\"\nPower to Prohibit Use of Private Club as Subterfuge\nThe Civil Rights Act has not been attacked in court. There follows an\nexcerpt from an opinion of eminent mainland counsel, released with permission of\nthe private club to which it was addressed:\n\"The Legislature of the Virgin Islands has an unqualified and profound responsibility\nto see to it that business and commerce are carried on in the Islands free from\ndiscrimination. Goods and services, as well as employment and use of public\naccommodations, must be made equally available to all without regard to race, color,\ncreed or origin. The business techniques of buying and selling commodities, of\ncharging fees for services and leasing property are mere tools of conventience\nto a private social club, but they are the essential ingredients of our bisiness\nand commercial economy under a free enterprise system.\n\"It is true that no interference with Civil Rights would result from the use of\nthese business techniques by a bona fide private club. However, the use of a so-\ncalled 'private club' as a guise or subterfuge for violating civil rights is easily\ndiscernible where, for example, the membership is virtually a public one and its\nmembership limitations stem primarily from discriminatory considerations.\n\"It is crystal clear that Title 10 is strictly a police measure aimed at insuring\nagainst the use of the private club as such a guise or subterfuge, by prohibiting\nthe use of business techniques altogether. From a constitutional point of view"
}