OUTSPOKEN LAWYER
CHRONICLES

September 6, 1958

“I think the statement by the President showed a flagrant disregard for the actual facts staring him in the face, as well as for the supreme law of the land. By making such a statement he has made himself a pawn in the hand of the political overlord of the Southland. His statement has set back the tenor of integration 50 years. I cannot believe that the President is so poorly informed on such a vital domestic question or that he can so poorly judge the information before him.”
Attorney Clarence Newsome’s response to President Eisenhower’s “off-the-cuff” remarks about a slower approach to desegregation in public schools. 

​April 25, 1959

“Police used “Gestapo” tactics and as a result made some criminals out of innocent persons of the 164 arrested. Even if the beverages were being sold illegally at the city club, not all of the patrons knew it. The innocent men, women, and students have a record that they must carry through life. Negroes help to elect councilmen and this act of intimidation will not go unforgotten. The burden of proof is on the Commonwealth to prove that all persons arrested had knowledge of illegal activity.”
Attorney Newsome commented on the police raid of a Black club in Richmond, Market Inn, that had been in existence for 20 years without incident. 

February 22, 1960

“The protesting Negroes have a precedent to stand on.” “These laws very soon will be tested sooner than you think. Courts have held that a private company cannot discriminate against persons if it has invited those persons onto its premises.”
Attorney Newsome referring to the VUU students arrested at Thalhimers Department store.

February 27, 1960

“The inability of African-Americans to use more than the basement of the library was humiliating, embarrassing, unfair, nauseating, and unconstitutional.”
Attorney Newsome’s statement after the arrest of Rev. Wyatt Walker and 10 others seeking to use the Petersburg, Virginia library main entrance and first floor. Protests led to the library closing for four months and ultimately became desegregated as a result of Newsome’s petition.

March 19, 1960

“The practice of seclusion and segregation is unconstitutional. If the arrested party is convicted we will carry this case all the way to the Supreme Court, if necessary. And we will continue to fight this undemocratic city ordinance. Isn’t the only reason the warrants were sworn out is because they were Negroes?”5 Attorney Clarence Newsome’s remarks when three pastors were arrested for praying in the library. Newsome received a telegram of congratulations and encouragement from the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.  April 2, 1960 “Use the ballot box, the economic boycott, and then go in, sit down, and eat.”
Attorney Clarence Newsome told a mass audience of approximately 600 people encouraging them to continue the store boycotts in Richmond.
 
March 1961

“Special emergency trespassing statutes  enacted recently by the General Assembly  aren’t worth the paper they are written  on from a legal point of view.”
Attorney Clarence Newsome commenting to the press on the arrest for trespass of The Richmond 34.

May 12, 1962

“It’s only fair play to elect a Negro council so that a minority group could be represented there.”

“The lack of employment practices and promotion policies by our city government is of grave concern to the 90,000 Negro children of Richmond. Because of these unjust practices we come before our elected representatives to implore them to promote regardless of race, color, or creed.”
Attorney Newsome’s remarks as part of his run for Richmond City Council advocating for equal pay for teachers and government workers.

My son Leon (Left), my father, Clarence Newsome (Right).