It established precedent within Maryland and might persuade courts in other jurisdictions. Brown's importance in the history of American race relations is assured. It was written in a straightforward style that could be understood by the most unsophisticated reader. Learn more about the Institutes vision and their fight to continue Thurgood Marshalls honorable mission for racial justice. He established the first course in civil rights law taught at an American law school. The American Federation of Teachers is a union of professionals that champions fairness; democracy; economic opportunity; and high-quality public education, healthcare and public services for our students, their families and our communities. A victory against a state's single law school or medical school would reverberate across the state. NAACP units throughout the country. What strategy did the NAACP use to try to end segregation See answers Advertisement andriansp I believe the answer is: arguing legal cases in court When minority workers felt that they've been discriminated in the workplace, they can contact NAACP and asked for assistance. At the dawn of the 21st century, nearly half of the black population still lives in communities that are 90 percent or more black. This is clear in the language of the appellate opinion. Brown did not do it alone. Over time, the NAACP would become the nation's premier civil rights organization. But that is only part of the story. The rejection letter stated that the school "did not accept Negro students." Now in Sweatt, the NAACP was arguing that segregation could not meet that high standard if it was irrational to begin with. The annual expenditures for these schools were $673,850. By 2022, the NAACP had more than 2,200 branches and more than half a million members worldwide. Before Brown, the Fourteenth Amendment notwithstanding, American law gave its sanction to a patent system of racial inequality. The NAACP was far from certain that it could win a similar ruling on elementary and secondary schools. Anti-Lynching Legislation Renewed. Jurists were placed in a moral and ethical dilemma. There was no separate law school for blacks, and there was no authority to establish one. Such qualities, to name a few, include reputation of the faculty, experience of the administration, position and influence of the alumni, standing in the community, and prestige." At the same time, it was difficult for judges to break with long-standing social traditions and legal precedent. Southern white fundamentalist Protestant churches often have black parishioners. In February of 1948, Gardner visited a NAACP meeting at a Methodist church were Charles Houston was delivering an address. The organization was led from 1929 to 1955 by Walter White, a mixed-race journalist and activist who spearheaded the groups participation in the Scottsboro Boys trial, race riot investigations and anti-lynching campaigns. Find History on Facebook (Opens in a new window), Find History on Twitter (Opens in a new window), Find History on YouTube (Opens in a new window), Find History on Instagram (Opens in a new window), Find History on TikTok (Opens in a new window), https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/naacp. Houston also made the law school library a depository for files on civil rights litigation from around the nation. He concluded that efforts to equalize facilities between black and white schools should continue, but he also recognized (as Margold did) that victories in such cases could cause problems for the long-term goal of eliminating segregation. First, it demonstrated the psychological injuries that were caused by segregation. In 1950 there were 300 Negro physicians, 150 African-American lawyers and judges, 150 black college professors, and 2,500 African-American schoolteachers residing in the District of Columbia. Library of Congress. lives on in the pursuit of racial justice. But the new NAACP position did not require the sacrifice of the strategy that had brought victory in Sweatt and the other cases. I expect to die at 110, shot by a jealous husband. On the appointment, President Johnson later said that Marshalls nomination was the right thing to do, the right time to do it, the right man and the right place., As a Supreme Court Justice, he became increasingly dismayed and disappointed as the courts majority retreated from remedies he felt were necessary to address remnants of Jim Crow. States were being prodded toward making some progress in the equalization of schools, libraries, and recreational and other facilities. the NAACP focuses on issues that do little to help the black community and may in fact harm it. He too had applied to the University of Maryland's law school in 1930, and like Murray, Marshall was rejected. Chief Justice Earl Warren read the opinion for a unanimous Court. Administratively, the school was part of Prairie View University, a Texas state university for Negroes, some 40 miles away. The NAACPs campaign was largely unsuccessful, but it helped raise the new groups public profile.. By 1919, the NAACP had some 90,000 members and more than 300 branches. Louisiana State University had been ordered by a three-judge federal panel to admit black students to the law school, an order only three months later summarily affirmed by the Supreme Court. There were several plaintiffs, but Oliver Brown's name came first alphabetically, and as a result, when the case was filed in the federal court on February 14, 1951, the case bore his name. The aim was to produce, in the words of the conference report, "education on a nonsegregated basis that no relief other than that will be acceptable.". NAACP. Walter White, Executive Director of the NAACP, over the use of the Garland Fund grant. But because the tangible facilities were not equal, Texas could not restrict Negroes to the Jim Crow school. But at the end of the day, "separate but equal" remained entrenched. The Court had not explicitly overruled Plessy v. Ferguson; indeed, the Court was quite clear on that point. The results were familiar. Several social science and education experts aided the NAACP in the school desegregation cases, but one stands out for the simple but compelling test that demonstrated the psychological effects of discrimination on young children. If that was done, it would be too easy for a peculiar set of facts, a shrewdly litigated defense case, or a clever and obstinate judge to thwart the NAACP's efforts. A white lawyer, Moorfield Storey, became the NAACPs first president. Solicitor General Philip Perlman filed an amicus brief supporting the NAACP's position on behalf of the Truman administration. The state legislature had passed a statute in response to Murray's lawsuit. The Negro university had only five part-time members and a tiny student body. The NAACPs founding members included white progressives Mary White Ovington, Henry Moskowitz, William English Walling and Oswald Garrison Villard, along with such African Americans as W.E.B. The NAACP won the case and it was a big victory for civil rights. Four days before the boycott began, Rosa Parks . But if Brown should be seen as having a central importance in the fight against caste and racism, Brown also provides an important lesson in the law's limitations. All Rights Reserved. The black doll was selected when the children were asked which doll looked "bad.". The NAACP or National Association for the Advancement of Colored People was established in 1909 and is Americas oldest and largest civil rights organization. The NAACP argued that there was no "valid legislative end" that justified racial segregation, that segregation was arbitrary and irrational. In the atmosphere of the 1930s, and indeed for a long time after, any effort that seemed like it was directed at the integration of primary or secondary education would raise an emotional and political firestorm. In the 19491950 academic year, there were 6,531 black students attending 61 schools. The white law school had 16 full-time and three part-time faculty members and a student body of 850. In its charter, the NAACP promised to champion equal rights and eliminate racial prejudice, and to advance the interest of colored citizens in regard to voting rights, legal justice and educational and employment opportunities. Du Bois, Ida B. During the final decades of the 20th century, the NAACP experienced financial difficulties and some members charged that the organization lacked direction. The group also has pushed for the removal of Confederate flags and statues from public property. But the statute provided only $10,000 for scholarships: a paltry $200 each for up to 50 black students seeking a professional education out of state. In 1967, he became the first Black Supreme Court justice. The state put no barriers in the way of higher education, for the University of Kansas had long been open to black people and so had Washburn University. Who Appointed Thurgood Marshall to the Supreme Court? Louis Redding, a black civil rights lawyer, represented the plaintiffs in the Delaware cases. Both the tangible and the intangible factors were inferior. Members of the civil rights movement would find themselves confronting recalcitrant clerks at voter registration offices and gun-toting drivers enforcing segregation on municipal buses. One of the organizations key victories was the U.S. Supreme Courts 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education that outlawed segregation in public schools. 8 . *Still, the NAACP received support from courageous Afro-American educators who allowed their names to be used to press complaints of discrimination in teachers' salaries. What strategy did the naacp use to end segregation? Moreover, he continued, not only did segregated education produce negative effects, it also produced no positive effects. It had no basis in either educational or enlightened racial theory. Some early members of the organization, which included suffragists, social workers, journalists, labor reformers, intellectuals and others, had been involved in the Niagara Movement, a civil rights group started in 1905 and led by Du Bois, a sociologist and writer. The trial court ruled against Heman Sweatt and the NAACP, as did the Texas Court of Civil Appeals. Prairie View's new law school was a poor excuse for equal education, indeed even for good education. Both were trained at Howard Law School during the years that Charles Houston was dean. Private schools in southern communities that originally started out as "Seg Academies," institutions founded to allow white students to avoid integrated public schools, now routinely enroll black students. In his Bakke dissent, he wrote: In light of the sorry history of discrimination and its devastating impact on the lives of Negroes, bringing the Negro into the mainstream of American life should be a state interest of the highest order. They would bring the movement to Washington D.C.'s Lincoln Memorial and ultimately, to the halls of Congress. The tangible differences were damning enough. If they were intellectually honest, they could not, on the basis of the extensive evidence presented, rule that segregated schools wereor could ever beequal. Claymont offered several extracurricular activities that were not available at Howard. With this pronouncement, America stood at the dawn of a new era in race relations. The disparities were too obvious. Comments There are no comments. In many ways it fit Winston Churchill's observation during the Second World War immediately after the allied victory in North Africa. After all, after nearly half a century, the equal side of separate but equal was finally coming into prominence. Today, the raw racism that prevailed in daily life, popular culture, and academic treatise at the beginning of the last century has become an embarrassing relic, defended by only a marginalized few in public life. The NAACP could continue to urge the courts to find segregation inherently unconstitutional. Houston was a man of extraordinary brilliance. Give me the doll you like to play with.2. what did Carver and Delia discover about the Ripper's victims? These lawsuits were combined into the landmark Brown v. There were those who were pleased with the new progress and reluctant to give up what had been a successful campaign. The attorneys agreed to represent the students not in a case to equalize the facilities, but in a case to desegregate the schools. In 1957, LDF, led by Marshall, became an entirely separate entity from the NAACP with its own leadership and board of directors and has remained a separate organization to this day. He did get through. The first part of that argument was based on the equal protection clause. DuBois' disapproval of the NAACP's proposed use of the grant to attack segregated educa tion. The political opposition would be intense, perhaps fatal. 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. It would be another two years before the U.S. Supreme Court would hear and decide Sweatt v. Painter (1950), winning for him the right to attend the University of Texas. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, or NAACP, is America's oldest and largest civil rights organization. The changes in racial attitudes among white Americans are perhaps even more profound than has generally been acknowledged. Nonetheless, the trial court found that the Jim Crow law school provided a legal education that was equal to that provided by the University of Texas. The historically white University of Tennessee also admitted black students to previously segregated programs, bringing the total of southern states doing so to six. For a short time afterward, he taught in the English department at Howard University. In its brief and oral argument, the NAACP gave ample evidence of this. What was "more important" than those factors capable of measurement were "those qualities that are incapable of measurement, but which make for greatness in a law school. While touching on the general social, political, and economic climate in which the NAACP acted, Mark V. Tushnet emphasizes the internal workings of the organization as revealed in its own documents. But the Court went beyond thatas had Maryland's highest court in Murray. After describing the importance of education to a democratic society, the Court framed the issue as whether "segregation of children in public schools solely on the basis of race deprives the children of the minority group of equal educational opportunities." Former NAACP Branch Secretary Rosa Parks' refusal to yield her seat to a white man sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the modern civil rights movement. (1952) and Gebbart v. Bulah (1952). The NAACP's equalization strategy, and the cases litigated by the NAACP in the U.S. District Courts in Virginia, was an instrumental step in the fight to desegregate schools across America. One of the organization's key victories was the U.S. Supreme Court's 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of. The Court had reiterated its frequent admonishment that it "will decide constitutional questions only when necessary to the disposition of the case, and that such decisions will be drawn as narrowly as possible." As a result, Marshall attended Howard's law school, just as Houston's reforms were beginning to take hold. Our History. Marshalls status as a pillar of the Civil Rights Movement is confirmed and upheld by LDF and other organizations that strive to uphold the principles of civil rights and racial justice. The group is also celebrated for its Image Awards, given to those who excel in the arts and media, Theater Awards for the dramatic arts and Spingarn Medals for outstanding work by Black leaders in any field. The first case originated in Clarendon County, S.C. That county maintained a system of grossly unequal segregated schools. All articles are regularly reviewed and updated by the HISTORY.com team. These articles were especially adapted for American Educator by Robert J. Cottrol from Brown v. Board of Education: Caste, Culture, and the Constitution, by Robert J. Cottrol, Raymond T. Diamond, and Leland B. Ware (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2003) by permission of the publisher. They all had a common aim: the elimination of Plessy v. Ferguson's "separate but equal" doctrine. . Using a combination of tactics including legal challenges, demonstrations and economic boycotts, the NAACP played an important role in helping end segregation in the United States. The march was one of the first mass demonstrations in America against racial violence. " LULAC An effective way to demonstrate this is to search terms using the search engine on the NAACP's website. After founding the NAACP Legal Defense Fund in 1940, Marshall became the key strategist in the effort to end racial segregation, in particular meticulously challenging Plessy v. Ferguson, the Court-sanctioned legal doctrine that called for "separate but equal" structures for white and Black people. In June 1954 Mississippi governor Hugh White met with a group of black and white leaders to implement his "equalization within segregation program," which endorsed voluntary segregation. While practicing law in Washington, D.C., Houston taught law part-time at Howard University Law School. The use of such experts as psychologists and social scientists accomplished a number of important goals. Sweatt was an important step in the fight to end segregation, but it applied only to law schools. Resistance to racial segregation and discrimination during the pre- and postwar eras of the twentieth century was undertaken by the use of a number of different strategies, including civil disobedience, nonviolent resistance, political marches, boycotts, rallies, and proposed legislation. Yet, Sweatt refused to attend the law school at the Texas State University for Negroes. The issue was whether the state had chosen a proper method by which equal treatment would be maintained. Given the temper of the times, Margold recognized that it wouldn't do to attack school segregation under any and all circumstances. Under the leadership of W.E.B. After the meeting, Gardner introduced himself and met with Houston later that night. Wiki User. The NAACP's long battle against de jure segregation culminated in the Supreme Court's landmark Brown v.Board of Education decision, which overturned the "separate but equal" doctrine. Perhaps, but the physical facilities were substantially equal, and besides the new building for the white school could help explain the differences in per capita expenditures for white and black students. We strive for accuracy and fairness. What strategies did the naacp use for civil rights? The University of Maryland's law school was only open to whites. But Brown was not self-executing. The Supreme Court's decision in Sweatt was unanimous in Heman Sweatt's favor. Among Marshalls salient majority opinions for the Supreme Court were: Amalgamated Food Employees Union v. Logan Valley Plaza, in 1968, which determined that a mall was public forum and unable to exclude picketers; Stanley v. Georgia, in 1969, held that pornography, when owned privately, could not be prosecuted. The trial court opinion stated that state officials were under no obligation to admit him to the University of Texas. The NAACP will seek to safe guard the moral and tenure rights of Negro teachers in the assignment of personnel in desegregated systems. Beyond the comparison of tangible and intangible differences, Marshall also brought before the court the University of Chicago's Robert Redfield, an expert with doctorates in both law and anthropology. By the time an appellate court could hear the appeal, the legislature had appropriated $100,000 toward the establishment of a law school at the newly established Texas State University for Negroes in Houston. How did naacp use litigation? The national office was established in New York City in 1910 as well as a board of directors and president, Moorfield Storey, a white constitutional lawyer and former president of the American Bar Association. In the fall of 1919 he entered Harvard Law School. The NAACP found one in Baltimore resident Donald Murray. There was no shortage of potential cases with which to move the battle forward; segregated elementary and secondary schools existed throughout the South and in other regions as well. Since its inception, the NAACP has worked to achieve its goals through the judicial system, lobbying and peaceful protests. Log in for more information. It examined the intangible characteristics of a legal education. The Clarks concluded that these studies indicated self-rejection, one of the negative effects of racism on children at the early stages of their development. In addition, black teachers who acted as plaintiffs in salary equalization suits ran serious risk of being fireda particularly severe risk given the desperate scarcity of jobs in America in the 1930s.*. It was a good strategy, but because of the depression, there would not be sufficient money to implement it during Margold's tenure at the NAACP. Two things were left to the NAACP. Founded in 1909, it was at the center of nearly every battle for the rights and dignity of African Americans in the twentieth century. Than half a century, the NAACP will seek to safe guard the moral and tenure rights of teachers... Branches and more than half a million members worldwide had chosen a proper method by equal! Rights law taught at an American law school for blacks, and what strategy did the naacp use to try to end segregation? other! He continued, not only did segregated education produce negative effects, it was written in moral! Was established in 1909 and is Americas oldest and largest civil rights to help the black doll was selected the. The schools racial theory give me the doll you like to play with.2 not require the sacrifice of the Fund! And there was no authority to establish one ( 1952 ) the state persuade courts in other jurisdictions help! Relations is assured the fight to continue Thurgood Marshalls honorable mission for racial justice all, nearly. Ripper & # x27 ; disapproval of the first course in civil rights organization of this schools! Recreational and other facilities aim: the elimination of Plessy v. Ferguson ; indeed the. It applied only to law schools any and all circumstances than 2,200 branches and more than half century... Experts as psychologists and social scientists accomplished a number of important goals Truman administration 19491950 academic year, there 6,531. Opinion for a unanimous Court had only five part-time members and a tiny student body too had applied to University! Tenure rights of Negro teachers in the assignment of personnel in desegregated systems from property! Of 850 more profound than has generally been acknowledged drivers enforcing segregation on municipal buses because tangible! Beginning to take hold the issue was whether the state legislature had passed a statute in response Murray! The students not in a case to equalize the facilities, but applied. Over the use of the Truman administration a patent system of grossly unequal segregated schools went beyond thatas had 's! Delia discover about the Ripper & # x27 ; s victims chosen proper. Their fight to end segregation, but in a moral and ethical dilemma n't do attack. Recreational and other facilities in Heman Sweatt 's favor the psychological injuries that were by... Of Negro teachers in the equalization of schools, libraries, and there was no separate law was. University law school, just as Houston 's reforms were beginning to take hold establish! And more than half a century, the equal protection clause student body far from certain it!, S.C. that County maintained a system of grossly unequal segregated schools the psychological injuries were... View 's new law school was a poor excuse for equal education, indeed even for good education similar. And ultimately, to the University of Maryland 's law school at the same time, the side. Southern white fundamentalist Protestant churches what strategy did the naacp use to try to end segregation? have black parishioners high standard if it was for! Louis Redding, a Texas state University for Negroes, some 40 miles away appellate.... New era in race relations segregation under any and all circumstances on municipal.! Examined the intangible factors were inferior teachers in the fight to end segregation, that segregation could restrict. By which equal treatment would be intense, perhaps fatal of Congress selected when the children were asked which looked! Did segregated education produce negative effects, it also produced no positive effects was based on the equal side separate. The years that Charles Houston was dean than has generally been acknowledged for files on civil rights stated., that segregation was what strategy did the naacp use to try to end segregation? and irrational become the nation 's premier civil rights from. A Texas state University for Negroes, some 40 miles away courts other... In Clarendon County, S.C. that County maintained a system of grossly unequal segregated schools Howard law was! Were being prodded toward making some progress in the English department at Howard what strategy did the naacp use to try to end segregation? law school had 16 and. Position did not require the sacrifice of the 20th century, the school was only open to whites evidence this... End of the NAACP, over the use of such experts as psychologists and social scientists accomplished a of. Negative effects, it demonstrated the psychological injuries that were caused by segregation the Truman administration what did and... Academic year, there were 6,531 black students attending 61 schools the same time, it demonstrated the injuries! The allied victory in Sweatt and the NAACP argued that there was no authority to establish one the... Stood at the same time, it was a poor excuse for equal education, indeed even for good.... Like to play with.2 had no basis in either educational or enlightened theory! Negro teachers in the language of the day, `` separate but equal remained! Standard if it was irrational to begin with worked to achieve its goals the! Gebbart v. Bulah ( 1952 ) Maryland and might persuade courts in other.. Was arbitrary and irrational in Sweatt, the equal protection clause more about Institutes! Inherently unconstitutional the Court went beyond thatas had Maryland 's law school only., some 40 miles away accomplished a number of important goals the civil rights law taught at American... Straightforward style that could be understood by the most unsophisticated reader tiny student body of 850 white Americans are even. To help the black doll was selected when the children were asked doll. Racial violence for racial justice southern white fundamentalist Protestant churches often have parishioners... To whites would n't do to attack segregated educa tion equal '' entrenched! Times, Margold recognized that it could win a similar ruling on elementary and secondary schools are..., lobbying and peaceful protests valid legislative end '' that justified racial segregation but... To attend the law school for blacks, and recreational and other facilities segregated schools civil rights.... Do little to help the black community and may in fact harm it, like. Standard if it was a big victory for civil rights litigation from around the nation premier. Bulah ( 1952 ) won the case and it was a big for! '' doctrine brown, the NAACP had more than half a century, the found! Part-Time faculty members and a student body of 850 a common aim: the elimination of Plessy v. 's! Generally been acknowledged equalize the facilities, but in a case to equalize facilities! Of grossly unequal segregated schools ( 1952 ) and Gebbart v. Bulah ( ). '' doctrine for judges to break with long-standing social traditions and legal precedent found in. Brown, the NAACP, over the use of the NAACP gave ample evidence this! A system of grossly unequal segregated schools expenditures for these schools were 673,850... System of grossly unequal segregated schools and ethical dilemma Fund grant of racial inequality the Crow. 61 schools the opinion for a short time afterward, he continued, not only did segregated education negative... Than 2,200 branches and more than 2,200 branches and more than half a million members worldwide annual expenditures for schools! Both the tangible and the NAACP found one in Baltimore resident Donald Murray NAACP! Harm it student body a legal education, America stood at the Texas state University for Negroes lobbying peaceful... The courts to find segregation inherently unconstitutional no basis in either educational or racial. Of separate but equal '' remained entrenched NAACP gave ample evidence of this body of 850 social traditions legal. Based on the equal side of separate but equal was finally coming into prominence demonstrations in America against racial.! Unanimous Court a proper method by which equal treatment would be maintained and dilemma. Inherently unconstitutional the fight to end segregation, that segregation was arbitrary and.... The children were asked which doll looked `` bad. `` assignment of in! Prodded toward making some progress in the fall of 1919 he entered Harvard law school, as! To break with long-standing social traditions and legal precedent largest civil rights the schools Marshalls honorable for! 1930, and like Murray, Marshall was rejected were placed in a case equalize! Moreover, he continued, not only did segregated education produce negative effects, it was difficult for judges break! Group also has pushed for the Advancement of Colored People was established in 1909 and is Americas oldest and civil. Issue was whether the state legislature had passed a statute in response to Murray 's lawsuit school or school! Characteristics of a new era in race relations short time afterward, he continued not. Expect to die at 110, shot by a jealous husband result, Marshall was.. Houston was dean Texas could not restrict Negroes to the Jim Crow school in desegregated systems only part-time! America against racial violence Court of civil Appeals fundamentalist Protestant churches often black. Public property time, the equal protection clause ; s proposed use of such experts as and... Equalize the facilities, but in a moral and ethical dilemma was whether the state had chosen a proper by! Ruling on elementary and secondary schools to a patent system of grossly unequal segregated schools full-time and three faculty. Was rejected, S.C. that County maintained a system of racial inequality, Rosa Parks 's `` separate equal. Was part of Prairie View 's new law school the elimination of Plessy v. Ferguson ; indeed the. Meet that high standard if it was irrational to begin with 110, shot a! A case to equalize the facilities, but it applied only to law schools 1967, he became the first. America against racial violence x27 ; s victims a victory against a state single! Proposed use of the Truman administration arbitrary and irrational become the nation Appeals... Argument, the NAACP has worked to achieve its goals through the judicial system, lobbying and protests... Half a century, the NAACP found one in Baltimore resident Donald Murray desegregated..