ABSTRACT
In the mid-1950s, several southern states began efforts to hamper the ability of civil rights organizations such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to organize and operate openly. These efforts raised issues involving the freedom to associate and assemble as provided in the First Amendment to the US Constitution. One such attempt was the 1956 lawsuit by John Patterson, the attorney general of Alabama, to enjoin the NAACP from doing business in Alabama without registering as a "foreign" corporation. As part of the lawsuit, the attorney general obtained a court order requiring the NAACP to produce records including the names and addresses of all its members in Alabama. Despite the Supreme Court's ruling, it took two more appeals by the NAACP to that Court before the state of Alabama's efforts at banning the organization ended in 1964.
