The first complaint against a travel agency specializing in organized European package tours since passage of the New York State anti-Discrimination Law in 1945, was made today by the American Jewish Committee.
Filed with the State Commission Against Discrimination, the AJC complaint charges Marsh Tours of New York with insisting on disclosure of a tour applicants “race, creed, color, national origin, place of birth and parents’ names” as a condition of the applicants qualification for tour membership.
The Marsh Tours literature publicly advertises these conditions, the AJC complaint asserts, to make it clear that “the import, intent and meaning of said communication, notice or advertisement is that persons of a particular race, creed, color or national origin are unwelcome, objectionable or not acceptable, desired or solicited.”
The complaint says that the New York state law violation is based on the use by the Marsh Tours of places of public accommodation, which includes steamships, airplanes, hotels and resorts, for their package tours. The AJC asked the State Commission for an order requiring Marsh Tours to “cease and desist from the unlawful discriminating practices set forth in the complaint.”
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
