Civil rights and public accommodations

"The struggle for civil rights in America was fought at the lunch counter as well as in the streets. It ultimately found victory in the halls of government - but, as Richard Cortner reveals, only through a creative use of congressional power and critical judicial decisions.". "Title II of the 1964 Civil Rights Act prohibited discrimination in public accommodations, and shortly after its passage blacks were refused service at the Heart of Atlanta Motel and at Ollie's Barbecue in Birmingham, Alabama, as a test of the new law by business owners who claimed the right to choose their own customers. These challenges made their way to the Supreme Court, becoming landmark cases frequently cited in law. Until now, however, they have never benefited from book-length analysis. Cortner provides an inside account of the litigation in both decisions to tell how they spelled the end to segregation in the South."--BOOK JACKET.