Mildred M. Smith, Agnes L. Stokes, and Patricia L. Taylor v. Hampton Training School for Nurses, a Corporation

SOBELOFF, Circuit Judge:

Negro plaintiffs, two practical nurses and one registered nurse employed by defendant’s hospital in Hampton, Virginia, were discharged for eating in a cafeteria maintained by the hospital for the exclusive use of its white employees. They brought an action in the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia under 42 U.S.C. §§ 1981, 1983 (1958), seeking reinstatement with back pay. The District Court granted the hospital’s motion for summary judgment, holding that at the time of the alleged discriminatory discharges, the law afforded plaintiffs no right to…