Boynton v. Virginia was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court. The case overturned a judgment convicting an African American law student for trespassing by being in a restaurant in a bus terminal that was “Whites only.”
The Boynton v. Virginia held that racial segregation in public transportation was illegal because such segregation violated the Interstate Commerce Act, which broadly forbade discrimination in interstate passenger transportation. It also held that bus transportation was sufficiently related to interstate commerce to allow the U.S. federal government to regulate it and forbid racial discrimination in the industry. Thurgood Marshall argued the case for Boynton.
References:
- Hall, Kermit. 2009. The Oxford Guide to United States Supreme Court Decisions. Oxford University Press. p. 201. ISBN 978-0195379396
- Encyclopedia Virginia. 1946. “Morgan v. Virginia (June 3, 1946).”
- Thirteen. 2002 “Jim Crow Stories: Richard Wormser, “Morgan v. Virginia’ (1946): The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow.” Thirteen. 2002.