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Arthur Davis Shores (September 25, 1904 – December 16, 1996) was a civil rights lawyer from Alabama.
Legal career[]
Having passed the Alabama State bar exam in 1937, Shores successfully argued a legal case on behalf of seven schoolteachers who were denied the right to vote by the State of Alabama just because they were black.
As general council for the IARE (International Association of Railway Employees), Shores worked on the case of Steele v. Louisville & N. R. Co with Charles H. Houston. The two of them were representing the IARE, which was claiming racial discrimination over an agreement between the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen, which was a trade union, and a railway. The BLFE was whites-only, and used this as a way to deny blacks employment because they weren't members. With Shores' help, Houston successfully argued the case before the Supreme Court.
Shores represented black teachers in the Jefferson County School Board to receive the same pay as white teachers.
One of Shores' more controversial cases was the case of Lucy V. Adams in 1955. Shores won a case to allow a black student, Autherine Lucy, to enrol in the University of Alabama. However, a hostile mob of racists attempted to stop her from attending classes. Ultimately, they were successful as the university was forced to suspend her for her own safety.
Shores' campaign in 1963 to integrate the Birmingham public schools brought violence to him and other residents. His home was fire-bombed on two separate occasions in retaliation for black parents registering their children at white schools. Undeterred, he argued before the Supreme Court that the arrests of peaceful protestors in Birmingham was unconstitutional that same year, and went on to become the first black member of the Birmingham City Council.
In 1977, the NAACP honored Shores by awarding him the William Robert Ming Advocacy Award for the spirit of financial and personal sacrifice displayed in his legal work.