Activists sat in or picketed segregated facilities, where they were harassed, often beaten, and arrested. Their protests gained vital support from the Civil Rights Act of 1964, notably Title II, which prohibited racial discrimination by “hotels, motels, restaurants, theaters, and all other public accommodations engaged in interstate commerce.” It also authorized the attorney general to enforce nondiscrimination by lawsuit. Soon the Birmingham Restaurant Association (BRA) challenged Title II's constitutional validity.

BRA's counsel recruited Ollie's Barbecue, owned by lay Presbyterian minister Ollie McClung and his son, to challenge the law on behalf of restaurants. The McClungs, grossing $350,000 annually, “served large numbers of local customers,” 90 percent of them black. But their dining room was for whites only. Counsel argued that, if forced to desegregate, “plaintiffs would suffer serious and irreparable injury.” His argument convinced the US District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, as it issued an injunction against enforcing Title II at Ollie's. However, the Justice Department won a stay on that order and filed an accelerated appeal to the US Supreme Court. The Court upheld Title II, noting “the adverse effects on commerce produced by restaurant segregation.” Thus overruling the District Court, its McClung decision reinforced desegregation.