Finding a Strategy

Sarah Keys’s lawyers filed a complaint in a DC court, which rejected it for lack of jurisdiction. Then they considered the Interstate Commerce Commission, even though it had always ruled in favor of segregation, if accommodations for Blacks equaled those for whites. This chapter presents both ICC and court case history that her lawyers explored in deciding to file at the ICC. Meanwhile, Sarah didn’t sign up for a second tour of duty with the army. She used GI benefits to train to be a hairstylist, which had interested her since childhood. In May 1954, Sarah testified before the ICC. A week later, the NAACP won its Supreme Court school desegregation case. Dovey Roundtree thought that would help Sarah’s case. But in September 1954, the ICC rejected the Sarah Keys case. Dovey Rountree looked for a way to demand a second hearing.