Arthur Shores
| Arthur Davis Shores | |
|---|---|
| Born | September 25, 1904 Birmingham, Alabama, United States |
| Died | December 16, 1996 (aged 92) Birmingham, Alabama, United States |
| Alma mater |
Talladega College La Salle Extension University |
| Occupation | Civil rights attorney |
| Spouse(s) | Theodora Warren Shores |
Arthur Davis Shores (September 25, 1904 – December 16, 1996) was an American civil rights attorney who was considered Alabama's "drum major for justice".
Shores graduated from Talladega College where he became a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.
He attended only one year of law school at the University of Kansas and then pursued his law studies through the correspondence school La Salle Extension University.
Shores passed the Alabama State Bar exam in 1937 and immediately began using his legal skills to support civil rights issues. In 1938, Shores successfully sued on behalf of seven school teachers who denied the right to vote by the Alabama Board of Registrars.
Shores was general counsel for the International Association of Railway Employees (IARE). In 1941 he took on the case of Steele v. Louisville & N. R. Co. in which B. W. Steele, a member of the IARE executive, argued that an agreement between the railway and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen was illegal. A whites-only railroad union could not exclude blacks and then deny them better jobs because they were not union members. He worked on this case with attorney Charles H. Houston, who argued it successfully in front of the Supreme Court of the United States in 1944. Shores represented black teachers in the Jefferson County School Board to receive the same pay as white teachers.
In 1955, Shores successfully argued before the U.S. Supreme Court in Lucy v. Adams to prevent the University of Alabama from denying admission solely based on race or color. Autherine Lucy became the first African-American to attend the school when she was admitted in 1956. On the third day of classes, a hostile mob assembled to prevent Lucy from attending classes. The police were called to secure her admission but, that evening, the University suspended Lucy on the grounds that it could not provide a safe environment.
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