Ruling
Judge Frank M. Johnson ruled in favor of the smiths and ordered
several things of the YMCA.
1) they had to stop denying membership to blacks.
2) They had to build new branches to accommodate more members,
those entering members would be black and branches would need
to be built in black neighborhoods too.
3) Fair recruiting at both predominantly black schools and predominantly
white schools.
4) No longer could exclude blacks from the City Wide Director's
board.
When the YMCA appealed the 5th circuit court agreed with Johnson
on all points except the last. guarantee of blacks on the board
was not acceptable. Judge Johnson had also ordered that $25,000
each be paid to Morris and the other lawyer, Fred Gray for their
work on the case. But both lawyers refused the money on the agreement
that it would go to the memberships of poor children regardless
of race.
Today there is no YMCA for whites and YMCA for blacks. There
is no camp for whites and a separate camp for blacks. The committment
to the Smith v. YMCA case paid off and set a precedent for others
to come.
