Lab #7 Baconsfield Park

In 1911 United States Senator Augustus O. Bacon executed a will that devised to the Mayor and Council of the City of Macon, Georgia, a tract of land which, after the death of the Senator's wife and daughters, was to be used

 The will provided that the park should be under the control of a Board of Managers of seven persons, all of whom were to be white. The city kept the park segregated for some years but in time took the position that the park was a public facility which it could not constitutionally manage and maintain on a segregated basis.

The city of Macon gave up their role as trustee and appointed three new trustees and the Supreme Court of Georgia affirmed, holding that Senator Bacon had the right to give and bequeath his property to a limited class, that charitable trusts are subject to supervision of a court of equity, and that the power to appoint new trustees so that the purpose of the trust would not fail was clear.  The case is here on a writ of certiorari.

U.S. Supreme Court

EVANS v. NEWTON, 382 U.S. 296 (1966)

382 U.S. 296 EVANS ET AL. v. NEWTON ET AL.
CERTIORARI TO THE SUPREME COURT OF GEORGIA.
No. 61.
Argued November 9-10, 1965.
Decided January 17, 1966.   

Result:

Under the circumstances of this case, we cannot but conclude that the public character of this park requires that it be treated as a public institution subject to the command of the Fourteenth Amendment (granted equal protection of the laws), regardless of who now has title under state law. We may fairly assume that had the Georgia courts been of the view that even in private hands the park may not be operated for the public on a segregated basis, the resignation would not have been approved and private trustees appointed. We put the matter that way because on this record we cannot say that the transfer of title per se disentangled the park from segregation under the municipal regime that long controlled it.
Since the judgment below gives effect to that purpose, it must be and is

Reversed.