fleming and others soon joined melton. she threw herself into the project and lent her name to local efforts to end racial discrimination. after unsuccessfully trying to interest texas attorney general price daniel in the case, melton approached j. edwin smith of a houston law firm. he was advised to enlist plaintiffs in the lawsuit against the jay bird association but this proved to be difficult because african-americans feared retaliation. finally a number of persons over 60 years old agreed to join the case, including 77-year-old john terry of beasley, whose name appeared at the top of the petition. in the end, melton and fleming paid the bulk of the legal fees although they were assisted by the naacp, black churches and wealthy houston blacks.