William O. Douglas

“ The blacks were little more than livestock-to be fed and fattened for the economic benefits they could bestow through their labors, and to be subjected to authority, often with cruelty, to make clear who was master and who slave.
Some badges of slavery remain today. While the institution has been outlawed, it has remained in the minds and hearts of many white men. Cases which have come to this Court depict a spectacle of slavery unwilling to die. We have seen contrivances by States designed to thwart Negro voting, e.g., Lane v. ”

“ They can resort to no disguises which will enable them to escape its deadly aim. They carry in front the evidence which marks them for persecution. They stand at the extreme point of difference from the Caucasian race, and their African origin can be instantly recognized, though they may be several removes from the typical African race. ”

“ Today the black is protected by a host of civil rights laws. But the forces of discrimination are still strong.
A member of his race, duly elected by the people to a state legislature, is barred from that assembly because of his views on the Vietnam war. Bond v. Floyd, 385 U.S. 116, 87 S.Ct. 339, 17 L.Ed.2d 235.
Real estate agents use artifice to avoid selling 'white property' to the blacks. [3] The blacks who travel the country, though entitled by law to the facilities for sleeping and dining that are offered all tourists, Heart of Atlanta Motel v. ”

“ This Act was passed to enforce the Thirteenth Amendment which in § 1 abolished 'slavery' and 'involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted' and in § 2 gave Congress power 'to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.'
Enabling a Negro to buy and sell real and personal property is a removal of one of many badges of slavery. ”

“ The black is often barred from a labor union because of his race. [4]
He learns that the order directing admission of his children into white schools has not been obeyed 'with all deliberate speed,' Brown v. Board of Education, 349 U.S. 294, 301, 75 S.Ct. 753, 756, 99 L.Ed. 1083 but has been delayed by numerous stratagems and devices. [5] State laws, at times, have been encouraged discrimination in housing. Reitman v. Mulkey, 387 U.S. 369, 87 S.Ct. 1627, 18 L.Ed.2d 830.
This recital is enough to show how prejudices, once part and parcel of slavery, still persist. ”