July 15, 1964

Ozell Sutton attempted to eat a meal in the Arkansas State Capitol cafeteria. The Civil Rights Act of 1964, which required the desegregation of public accommodations, had become national law just two weeks earlier. However, Sutton—a Black man—was refused service. On July 21, the capitol cafeteria was incorporated as the private, nonprofit Capitol Club. On September 16, Sutton, backed by NAACP attorneys, filed a class-action suit against the Capitol Club in the U.S. District Court. On April 12, 1965, Justice J. Smith Henley handed down his decision in the case, ruling that the discrimination against Sutton was a straightforward breach of the Fourteenth Amendment mandate against government denying equal protection under the law. He ordered the Capitol Club to integrate and the defendants to pay the costs of the lawsuit. On April 30, Sutton returned alone to the cafeteria where he had been refused service ten months earlier. He joined the line, collected his food, and ate lunch without incident.