Hamilton v. Alabama, 376 U.S. 650 (1964), is a United States Supreme Court case in which the court held that an African American woman, Mary Hamilton, was entitled to the same courteous forms of address customarily reserved solely for whites in the Southern United States,[1] and that calling a black person by their first name in a formal context was "a form of racial discrimination".

When she persisted in her demand to be addressed in this manner, the judge held her in contempt of court and sentenced her to five days in jail and a $50 fine.

Her lawyers argued that the first-name form of address used by the prosecutor was part of a "racial caste system" that violated Hamilton's equal protection guarantees.

In support of its summary decision, the court cited its 1963 ruling in Johnson v. Virginia, in which it had unanimously held that "a State may not require racial segregation in a courtroom".

[5] Associate Justices Tom C. Clark, John M. Harlan II, and Byron White dissented from the majority's decision to grant certiorari.