The US Supreme court upheld a decision made in the Detroit Recorders Court and Michigan Supreme Court that upheld provisions of the Michigan Civil Rights Act and anti-discrimination provisions of the US Civil Rights Act. Bob-Lo was fined $25 funder the Michigan Civil Rights Act by refusing admittance of one colored student, Sarah E. Ray, singling her out from a group of white students who were celebrating their graduation from Secretarial school. Sarah refused to back down and filed her case which eventually ended up in the US Supreme court, defended by then NAACP lawyer Thurgood Marshall. The first ruling came from Detroit Recorders Court in 1945, ruling in her favor that Bob-Lo had violated her civil rights. Bob-Lo, an American company, sought protection under the commerce clause of the US Constitution because its park was located in Canada and claimed it was not subject to US civil rights law, appealing to the US Supreme Court. In 1948, the Supreme Court upheld the Original Recorders Court ruling, and ruled in favor of this young woman who had moved from Tennessee in search of a better life. Sarah E. Ray went on to contribute to her Detroit community by purchasing a property and developing a community center called Action House, next to her East-side home. In this center she successfully created programs for positive racial relationships, improvement of local housing conditions, feeding the hungry, and creating opportunities for residents in the neighborhood.
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