Pictured here is the East Montgomery Branch of the YMCA, as photographed in 1965. When ordered to desegregate in 1957, city officials began transferring many city-run recreational activities to the YMCA, which claimed that, as a private group, it was exempt from desegregation requirements. In the 1972 Smith v. Young Men’s Christian Association of Montgomery decision, the court ruled that the YMCA had violated the civil rights of the Black plaintiffs.
East Montgomery YMCA
Photo courtesy of Alabama Department of Archives and History
