the united states district court for the southern district ruled in favor of their suit on may 1, 1950. the court determined that the jay bird association operated as a political party and therefore came under federal statutes that protected voting rights. with melton as president and fleming as secretary, the fort bend civic club was set up and started getting out the black vote. in the subsequent primary, 400 of the 550 eligible african-american voters went to the polls and no incidents of violence were reported. however, on january 11, 1952 the jay bird association got the verdict overturned by the united states court of appeals for the fifth circuit. after more fund-raising efforts, the fort bend civic club scraped together $6,000 to pursue the case to the highest court. on may 4, 1953, the united states supreme court upheld the original district court ruling in "terry v. adams". of the litigants, only melton and fleming were present at the high court session. the case determined that african-americans in fort bend county had the right to vote. the cost of the litigation impoverished fleming, though she announced, "i'd do it all over again". she died in richmond on january 18, 1976, and is interred in the mount carmel baptist church cemetery. in 1994 an elementary school in the fort bend independent school district was named after her.