Adam's Mark agrees to NAACP demands

Dec. 3, NAACP President and CEO Kweisi Mfume, joined by other organization officials, college students from Howard and Morgan State universities and attorneys, announced the NAACP had resolved its longstanding dispute with the Adam's Mark hotel chain. Mfume said Adam's Mark had acceded to all of the NAACP's demands. Consequently, the NAACP stopped its boycott.

"I am encouraged that the Adam's Mark has stepped forward to do the right thing to resolve this matter," Mfume said.

The hotel chain had been sued by five young African American students on behalf of themselves and other African Americans at the 1999 Black College Reunion (BCR) for alleged discriminatory treatment at the Adam's Mark hotel in Daytona Beach, Fla. The NAACP supported this legal action. The State of Florida filed its own lawsuit against the chain.

"We are very pleased to finally put this issue behind us," said Fred S. Kummer, president and CEO of Adam's Mark. "Adam's Mark is proud to be a diversity leader in the hospitality industry with a strong, continuing commitment to equality in employment and guest service."

The hotel chain maintained that it did not discriminate against BCR guests and issued a press release saying it would be in the best interest of the hotel chain to have "a settlement, rather than continued litigation." The settlement consists of monetary relief to the five complaining students, and a $400,000 settlement fund for other hotel guests during the BCR weekend (April 9-11, 1999). The State of Florida will administer the fund.

Adam's Mark will also provide movies to the four historically Black colleges and universities in Florida. Florida A&M will receive $250,000; BethuneCookman College, $150,000; Edward Waters College, $100,000; and Florida Memorial College, $100,000. According to Dirk Lawson, assistant general counsel at the NAACP, these funds are to be used to train students in hotel management. If the schools do not have such a program, then the money will be used in business administration programs.

"The Adam's Mark had worked in good faith to settle the claims of the private plaintiffs as well as those claims belonging to the State of Florida," Mfume said.

The hotel chain also agreed not to pursue legal actions against the more than 15 organizations that cancelled contracts with its hotels in support of the NAACP boycott.

Tammie Campbell, president of the Missouri City, Texas, NAACP branch, faced a dilemma when her daughter, Shar-day, was chosen last year as one of the participants in the People to People Student Ambassador Program, an educational program initiated by President Dwight D. Eisenhower and now administered by his granddaughter Mary Eisenhower. Campbell was to visit three cities in Australia, including Sydney. Things were going well until the family received a letter informing them that Shar-day's initial meeting would be at Houston's Adam's Mark hotel. The Campbells opted to honor the NAACP's boycott and not go to the hotel. At the last minute, the People to People Program provided the Campbells an alternative meeting place.

The kind of dedication shown by individuals such as the Campbells and the national organizations that canceled their contracts with Adam's Mark hotels made the boycott successful.

"This is a great victory not just for the NAACP, but for the cause of civil rights in America," Mfume said.

- Phil W. Petrie

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