aacp attorney who led courtroom battles to abolish segregated schools

by Judge Koss 6 min read

The first general counsel of NAACP, Charles Hamilton Houston
Charles Hamilton Houston
Through his work at the NAACP, Houston played a role in nearly every civil rights case that reached the US Supreme Court between 1930 and Brown v. Board of Education (1954). Houston worked to bring an end to the exclusion of African Americans from juries across the South.
https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Charles_Hamilton_Houston
exposed the hollowness of the "separate but equal" doctrine and paved the way for the Supreme Court ruling outlawing school segregation.

How did the Supreme Court end segregation in schools?

National Association for the Advancemnt of Colored People NAACP established the "separate but equal" doctrine Plessy vs Ferguson NAACP attorney/lawyer who led courtroom battles against segreation Thurgood Marshall Supreme Court Case ruled that racially segregated schools were unconstitutional Brown v. Board of Education

Who was responsible for the desegregation of schools in America?

Charles Hamilton Houston was the chief strategist of the NAACP's legal campaign that culminated in the Brown decision. Born in Washington, D.C., he graduated from Amherst College, in 1915. In 1923 he became the first African American to earn a Doctor of Juridical Science degree at Harvard, where he studied under Felix Frankfurter.

What did the NAACP do to end segregation?

What was the main goal of NAACP ? ... NAACP attorney led courtroom battles to abolish segregated schools. Thurgood Marshall. fear and hatred of foreigners. ... Arkansas governor who called out the National Guard to prevent African American students from attending a white school. Orval Faubus.

What was the first major legal case the NAACP defended?

The NAACP was focused on ending segregation in America's public schools. Their strategy was to show that separate schools did not provide equal educational opportunities for African American students. Who was Thurgood Marshall? Thurgood Marshall was an NAACP attorney who led courtroom battles against segregation.

Who was the attorney that ended school segregation?

Thurgood MarshallThurgood Marshall led a life in the pursuit of equality, and was on a path destined to lead him to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Who led the naacp Court fight against school segregation?

Thurgood MarshallThurgood Marshall, the head of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, served as chief attorney for the plaintiffs. (Thirteen years later, President Lyndon B. Johnson would appoint Marshall as the first Black Supreme Court justice.)Jan 11, 2022

Who was the lawyer in Brown v. Board of Education?

Thurgood MarshallThurgood Marshall Marshall, who also served as lead counsel in the Brown v. Board of Education case, went on to become the first African-American Supreme Court Justice in U.S. history.Jun 8, 2021

What group led the legal fight against segregated schools?

The landmark case began as five separate class-action lawsuits brought by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) on behalf of Black schoolchildren and their families in Kansas, South Carolina, Delaware, Virginia and Washington, D.C.Mar 16, 2021

Which Supreme Court ruling was overturned by the decision to desegregate public schools on the basis that separate is inherently unequal?

Brown v. Board of Education of TopekaIn Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954) a unanimous Supreme Court declared that racial segregation in public schools is unconstitutional. The Court declared “separate” educational facilities “inherently unequal.”

Why did the Supreme Court rule segregated schools unconstitutional?

The Supreme Court's decision was unanimous and felt that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal," and hence a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

What Court case did Brown vs the Board of Education overturned?

Plessy v. FergusonBoard of Education. The Court overturned Plessy v. Ferguson, and declared that racial segregation in public schools violated the Equal Protection clause of the 14th Amendment.

Who put Thurgood Marshall to the Supreme Court?

President JohnsonPresident Johnson nominated Marshall in June 1967 to replace the retiring Justice Tom Clark, who left the Court after his son, Ramsey Clark, became Attorney General.Aug 30, 2021

Who was the judge in Brown vs Board of Education?

Chief Justice Earl WarrenBoard of Education case of 1954 legally ended decades of racial segregation in America's public schools. Chief Justice Earl Warren delivered the unanimous ruling in the landmark civil rights case.Jun 3, 2021

What did the Jim Crow laws legalized?

Jim Crow laws were any state or local laws that enforced or legalized racial segregation. These laws lasted for almost 100 years, from the post-Civil War era until around 1968, and their main purpose was to legalize the marginalization of African Americans.

Why did the Supreme Court decide to overturn Plessy versus Ferguson as explained in Brown versus Board of Education?

Why did the Supreme Court decide to overturn Plessy v. Ferguson, as explained in Brown v. Board of Education? Separate is inherently unequal.

When did schools stop being segregated?

These lawsuits were combined into the landmark Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court case that outlawed segregation in schools in 1954. But the vast majority of segregated schools were not integrated until many years later.

Who was the NAACP Special Counsel?

Charles Houston , NAACP Special Counsel, targeted law schools. He was optimistic that based on their own experience, white judges would reject the unequal training for black attorneys. After winning the Murray case, Houston worked with Marshall and Sidney Redmond on Missouri ex rel. Gaines v. Canada. In 1935 the University of Missouri Law School denied entry to Lloyd Gaines, an honor graduate of Lincoln University (Mo.), offering to build a law school at Lincoln or pay Gaines's tuition at an out-of-state school. Houston and Redmond argued the case before the U.S. Supreme court in 1938. The Court ruled that Missouri must offer Gaines an equal facility within its borders or admit him to the University's law school. In response, the State legislature tried to erect a makeshift law school inciting Houston to renew litigation. Meanwhile, Gaines disappeared, abruptly ending the case. His fate remains a mystery.

Who was the chief strategist of the NAACP?

Chief Strategist Charles H. Houston. Charles Hamilton Houston was the chief strategist of the NAACP's legal campaign that culminated in the Brown decision. Born in Washington, D.C., he graduated from Amherst College, in 1915.

What is the 14th amendment? What are its purposes?

The Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which allowed the Federal Government to protect the civil rights of individuals, including African Americans, against state encroachment, was ratified in 1868. The amendment also defined national citizenship and extended it to former slaves freed by the Civil War. This 1866 letter to Supreme Court Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase is from Associate Justice Stephen J. Field, whose judicial opinions would significantly influence subsequent interpretations of the amendment. Field termed the amendment, which had recently been passed by Congress and sent to the states for ratification, “just what we need” and said it showed that “the American people do not intend to give up all that they have gained by the war.”

Who was Margaret Douglass?

Under this code, Margaret Douglass, of Norfolk, Virginia, a former slaveholder, was arrested, imprisoned, and fined when authorities discovered that she was teaching “free colored children” of the Christ's Church Sunday school to read and write.

Why did the NAACP not give tax exemption?

In 1939 the Treasury Department refused to grant tax-exempt status to the NAACP because of a perceived conflict between the Association's litigation and lobbying activities. In response, the NAACP created its Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., as a non-profit separate arm to litigate cases and raise money exclusively for the legal program. It shared board members and office space with the NAACP. Arthur Spingarn was president of both organizations. Thurgood Marshall served concurrently as the Fund's director and NAACP Special Counsel. He hired a new team of gifted young lawyers to work for the Fund, including Robert L. Carter, Jack Greenberg, Constance Baker Motley, and Franklin Williams. The Legal Defense Fund severed ties with the NAACP in 1957 but retained its original name.

What were the three amendments that were passed after the abolition of slavery?

After the abolition of slavery in the United States, three Constitutional amendments were passed to grant newly freed African Americans legal status: the Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery, the Fourteenth provided citizenship , and the Fifteenth guaranteed the right to vote.

When was the National Negro Conference held?

As a result of the “call,” the National Negro Conference was held in New York on May 31 and June 1, 1909. At the second annual meeting, May 12, 1910, the Committee adopted the formal name of the organization—the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

Who was the lead plaintiff in the NAACP lawsuit?

The lead plaintiff, Oliver Brown, had filed suit against the Board of Education in Topeka, Kansas in 1951, after his daughter Linda was denied admission to a white elementary school.

When did the Supreme Court decide to end segregation?

In 1954, the Supreme Court unanimously strikes down segregation in public schools, sparking the Civil Rights movement. Brown v. Board Does Not Instantly Desegregate Schools. In its landmark ruling, the Supreme Court didn’t specify exactly how to end school segregation, but rather asked to hear further arguments on the issue.

What did the Supreme Court decide in Brown v. Board of Education?

Board of Education, ruling that racial segregation in public schools violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.

When did the Fair Housing Act become law?

Despite the passage of the Fair Housing Act in 1968 and later judicial decisions making racial discrimination illegal, exclusionary economic-zoning laws still bar low-income and working-class Americans from many neighborhoods, which in many cases reduces their access to higher quality schools.

What did the Brown v Board of Education ruling mean?

Board of Education, ruling that racial segregation in public schools violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. The upshot: Students of color in America would no longer be forced by law to attend traditionally under-resourced Black-only schools.

What was the Brown ruling?

The Brown Ruling Becomes a Catalyst for the Civil Rights Movement. For the first time since the Reconstruction Era, the Court’s ruling focused national attention on the subjugation of Black Americans.

What is the legacy of Brown v. Board?

Board to argue different sides in the constitutional debate.

Who was the head of the NAACP?

From 1935 to 1938, the legal arm of the NAACP was headed by Charles Hamilton Houston. Houston, together with Thurgood Marshall, devised a strategy to attack Jim Crow laws by striking at them where they were perhaps weakest—in the field of education.

What was the Brown vs Board of Education case?

Board of Education was actually the name given to five separate cases that were heard by the U.S. Supreme Court concerning the issue of segregation in public schools. These cases were Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Briggs v. Elliot, Davis v. Board of Education of Prince Edward County (VA.), Bolling v. Sharpe, and Gebhart v. Ethel. While the facts of each case are different, the main issue in each was the constitutionality of state-sponsored segregation in public schools. Once again, Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund handled these cases.

Why was Plessy arrested?

Plessy, contending that the Louisiana law separating blacks from whites on trains violated the "equal protection clause" of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, decided to fight his arrest in court. By 1896, his case had made it all the way to the United States Supreme Court.

Which amendment was passed to end slavery?

In 1865, the Thirteenth Amendment was ratified and finally put an end to slavery. Moreover, the Fourteenth Amendment (1868) strengthened the legal rights of newly freed slaves by stating, among other things, that no state shall deprive anyone of either "due process of law" or of the "equal protection of the law.".

What was the NAACP's main goal in the 1930s?

Despite the Supreme Court's ruling in Plessy and similar cases, many people continued to press for the abolition of Jim Crow and other racially discriminatory laws. One particular organization that fought for racial equality was the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) founded in 1909. For about the first 20 years of its existence, it tried to persuade Congress and other legislative bodies to enact laws that would protect African Americans from lynchings and other racist actions. Beginning in the 1930s, though, the NAACP's Legal Defense and Education Fund began to turn to the courts to try to make progress in overcoming legally sanctioned discrimination. From 1935 to 1938, the legal arm of the NAACP was headed by Charles Hamilton Houston. Houston, together with Thurgood Marshall, devised a strategy to attack Jim Crow laws by striking at them where they were perhaps weakest—in the field of education. Although Marshall played a crucial role in all of the cases listed below, Houston was the head of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund while Murray v. Maryland and Missouri ex rel Gaines v. Canada were decided. After Houston returned to private practice in 1938, Marshall became head of the Fund and used it to argue the cases of Sweat v. Painter and McLaurin v. Oklahoma Board of Regents of Higher Education .

What did the NAACP do in the 1950s?

Painter (1950) Encouraged by their victory in Gaines' case, the NAACP continued to attack legally sanctioned racial discrimination in higher education. In 1946, an African American man named Heman Sweat applied to the University of Texas' "white" law school.

What did George McLaurin do to his academic career?

In 1949, the University of Oklahoma admitted George McLaurin, an African American, to its doctoral program. However, it required him to sit apart from the rest of his class, eat at a separate time and table from white students, etc. McLaurin, stating that these actions were both unusual and resulting in adverse effects on his academic pursuits, sued to put an end to these practices. McLaurin employed Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund to argue his case, a case which eventually went to the U.S. Supreme Court. In an opinion delivered on the same day as the decision in Sweat, the Court stated that the University's actions concerning McLaurin were adversely affecting his ability to learn and ordered that they cease immediately.

Why was Rosa Parks arrested?

Rosa Parks, a black NAACP worker, was arrested for refusing to give her bus seat to a white passenger. To protest Parks's arrest, thousands of African Americans stopped riding buses in Montgomery.

What was the purpose of the 1963 March on Washington?

The purpose of the 1963 March on Washington was to. show support for President Kennedy's civil rights bill. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech. at the March on Washington.

Why did the Freedom Rides happen?

The Freedom Rides were a series of protests in which black and white bus riders traveled together to segregated bus stations in the South. White riders planned to use the facilities set aside for African Americans and the African Americans planned to use the "white" facilities. Freedom Riders wanted to put pressure on President Kennedy ...

What was the first sit in?

The first sit-in took place at a Woolworth's department store. The sit-ins were staged by students who wanted to challenge the segregation of private businesses.

Where were the Little Rock Nine?

The Little Rock Nine were a group of nine outstanding black students who were allowed to attend a formerly segregated high school in Little Rock, Arkansas. They faced opposition from white students and the governor of Arkansas.

What was the NAACP case?

Known as Brown v.

What is the Brown v Board of Education case?

Known as Brown v. Board of Education, Topeka, Kansas, the cases overturned decades of legally-sanctioned racial segregation in the United States, and became widely known as the most significant Supreme Court case in American history. “Separate but Equal”. Since the infamous Plessy decision in 1896, which gave legal sanction to racial segregation ...

What was the goal of the NAACP?

The lawyers would attack Plessy directly, and force the courts, and the nation, to either defend segregation openly, or make the United States true to its principles. Full and immediate desegregation was now the official goal of the NAACP.

What was the Brown decision?

The Brown decision has since been known as the single most important Supreme Court decision in American history. The Aftermath. The NAACP had won the battle, but the fight was not yet over. The Court worried about resistance of the south to its ruling.

What issues did the NAACP face?

Today, the NAACP is focused on such issues as inequality in jobs, education, health care and the criminal justice system, as well as protecting voting rights.

Who was the first black president of the NAACP?

A white lawyer, Moorfield Storey, became the NAACP’s first president. Du Bois, the only Black person on the initial leadership team, served as director of publications and research. In 1910, Du Bois started The Crisis, which became the leading publication for Black writers; it remains in print today.

Why did the NAACP march in 1917?

In 1917, some 10,000 people in New York City participated in an NAACP-organized silent march to protest lynchings and other violence against Black people. The march was one of the first mass demonstrations in America against racial violence.

What is the NAACP?

The NAACP or National Association for the Advancement of Colored People was established in 1909 and is America’s oldest and largest civil rights organization. It was formed in New York City by white and Black activists, partially in response to the ongoing violence against African Americans around the country. In the NAACP’s early decades, its anti-lynching campaign was central to its agenda. During the civil rights era in the 1950s and 1960s, the group won major legal victories, and today the NAACP has more than 2,200 branches and some half a million members worldwide.

What was the NAACP's goal?

The NAACP’s Early Decades. Since its inception, the NAACP has worked to achieve its goals through the judicial system, lobbying and peaceful protests. In 1910, Oklahoma passed a constitutional amendment allowing people whose grandfathers had been eligible to vote in 1866 to register without passing a literacy test.

What was the NAACP's role in the Civil Rights Movement?

The NAACP played a pivotal role in the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. One of the organization’s key victories was the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education that outlawed segregation in public schools.

How many branches does the NAACP have?

During the civil rights era in the 1950s and 1960s, the group won major legal victories, and today the NAACP has more than 2,200 branches and some half a million members worldwide.

The Supreme Court Rules 'Separate' Means Unequal

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The landmark case began as five separate class-action lawsuits brought by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) on behalf of Black schoolchildren and their families in Kansas, South Carolina, Delaware, Virginia and Washington, D.C. The lead plaintiff, Oliver Brown, had filed suit again…
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Brown v. Board First to Rule Against Segregation Since Reconstruction Era

  • The Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board marked a shining moment in the NAACP’s decades-long campaign to combat school segregation. In declaring school segregation as unconstitutional, the Court overturned the longstanding “separate but equal” doctrine established nearly 60 years earlier in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896). In his opinion, Chief Justice Warrenasserte…
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Brown v. Board Does Not Instantly Desegregate Schools

  • In its landmark ruling, the Supreme Court didn’t specify exactly how to end school segregation, but rather asked to hear further arguments on the issue. The Court’s timidity, combined with steadfast local resistance, meant that the bold Brown v. Board of Educationruling did little on the community level to achieve the goal of desegregation. Black students, to a large degree, still atte…
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The Brown Ruling Becomes A Catalyst For The Civil Rights Movement

  • For the first time since the Reconstruction Era, the Court’s ruling focused national attention on the subjugation of Black Americans. The result? The growth of the nascent civil-rights movement, which would doggedly challenge segregation and demand legal equality for Black families through boycotts, sit-ins, freedom rides and voter-registration drives. The Brown verdict inspired …
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Legacy and Impact of Brown v. Board

  • More than 60 years after the landmark ruling, assessing its impact remains a complicated endeavor. The Court’s verdict fell short of initial hopes that it would end school segregation in America for good, and some argued that larger social and political forces within the nation played a far greater role in ending segregation. As the Supreme Court has grown increasingly polarized …
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Are Schools 'Separate But Equal’ in The 21st Century?

  • School segregation remains in force all over America today, largely because many of the neighborhoods in which schools are still located are themselves segregated. Despite the passage of the Fair Housing Act in 1968 and later judicial decisions making racial discrimination illegal, exclusionary economic-zoning laws still bar low-income and working-class Americans from man…
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Early Cases

  • Despite the Supreme Court's ruling in Plessy and similar cases, many people continued to press for the abolition of Jim Crow and other racially discriminatory laws. One particular organization that fought for racial equality was the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) founded in 1909. For about the first 20 years of its existence, it tried to persuad…
See more on uscourts.gov

Murray v. Maryland

  • Disappointed that the University of Maryland School of Law was rejecting black applicants solely because of their race, beginning in 1933 Thurgood Marshall (who was himself rejected from this law school because of its racial acceptance policies) decided to challenge this practice in the Maryland court system. Before a Baltimore City Court in 1935, Marshall argued that Donald Gain…
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Missouri Ex Rel Gaines v. Canada

  • Beginning in 1936, the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund decided to take on the case of Lloyd Gaines, a graduate student of Lincoln University (an all-black college) who applied to the University of Missouri Law School but was denied because of his race. The State of Missouri gave Gaines the option of either attending an all-black law school that it would build (Missouri did not …
See more on uscourts.gov

Sweat v. Painter

  • Encouraged by their victory in Gaines' case, the NAACP continued to attack legally sanctioned racial discrimination in higher education. In 1946, an African American man named Heman Sweat applied to the University of Texas' "white" law school. Hoping that it would not have to admit Sweat to the "white" law school if a "black" school already existed, elsewhere on the University's …
See more on uscourts.gov

Mclaurin v. Oklahoma Board of Regents of Higher Education

  • In 1949, the University of Oklahoma admitted George McLaurin, an African American, to its doctoral program. However, it required him to sit apart from the rest of his class, eat at a separate time and table from white students, etc. McLaurin, stating that these actions were both unusual and resulting in adverse effects on his academic pursuits, sued to put an end to these practices…
See more on uscourts.gov

Brown v. Board of Education

  • The case that came to be known as Brown v. Board of Education was actually the name given to five separate cases that were heard by the U.S. Supreme Court concerning the issue of segregation in public schools. These cases were Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Briggs v. Elliot, Davis v. Board of Education of Prince Edward County (VA.), Bolling v. Sharpe, and Gebhart …
See more on uscourts.gov