A predominant case in testing the State of Michigan Civil Rights Law of 1885. A prominent dentist in Grand Rapids was denied the right to purchase a ticket on the main floor of the Keith Theater. Bolden’s original case against the Grand Rapids Operating Company was denied by judge Leonard Verdeer who ruled the theater was a private enterprise thus the civil rights act did not apply as it would deprive the owner of his property without due process of law. The Michigan Supreme Court overturned the lower court ruling on the grounds that a suit to sustain the rights to equal accommodations based on race was allowed as determined in Ferguson v Geis.
African Americans in the Furniture City: the struggle for civil rights in Grand Rapids by Randal Maurice Jelks, 2006 by the Board of trustees University of Illinois
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