After decades of court challenges, the NAACP lawyers began their desegregation efforts in the 1960s. Their legal actions were instrumental in the desegregation of Alabama public schools. With these victories, the NAACP was able to resume operations in Alabama in 1964. The success of these legal actions also paved the way for further desegregation efforts. Here are some of their most important victories.
Table of Contents
Charles Hamilton Houston
The network and strategy developed by NAACP lawyers Charles Hamilton Houston were instrumental in achieving educational equality for all African-American students. Houston believed lawyers should use their knowledge of the Constitution to improve the conditions of underprivileged citizens. As the mouthpiece for the poor and sentinel against injustice, lawyers had a vital role to play. Houston also stressed the role of black lawyers in these efforts. He worked to strengthen the National Bar Association to represent the interests of black lawyers.
In addition to the NAACP’s legal team, Houston’s efforts led to the desegregation of Oklahoma’s public schools. In 1923, Houston represented Jess Hollins, a black man convicted of rape by an all-white jury and sentenced to death. Houston used arguments developed in lower courts to argue that black defendants were entitled to due process under the law. His arguments were successful and he became the first black lawyer to successfully represent the NAACP before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Thurgood Marshall
As early as 1940, Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP lawyers began their desegregation efforts, challenging the Plessy v. Ferguson decision that had established separate but equal structures for blacks and whites in public schools. In a series of court decisions, Marshall and the NAACP lawyers were able to gradually knock down the Doctrine of Separate But Equal. In 1952, Marshall argued the case Brown v. Board of Education in the Supreme Court, successfully overturning the doctrine of “separate but equal.” Justice Felix Frankfurter asked Marshall if he would rule against segregation if he were black or white.
The NAACP and Thurgood Marshall continued their legal efforts, and the Court ruled in favor of the NAACP and students in Brown v. Board of Education. In the same year, the Supreme Court unanimously overruled Plessy v. Ferguson. In this landmark decision, the court declared that racial segregation in public schools violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment and the Due Process Clause of the 5th Amendment. As a result of these cases, the Supreme Court overturned Plessy v. Ferguson and began its desegregation efforts.
Heman Sweatt
Heman Sweatt, a prominent African-American lawyer, reinvented the legal arguments for desegregation. He began by arguing that segregation hurt cultural values. He also focused on the social effects of racial segregation. Ultimately, the case resulted in the establishment of Texas Southern University and Texas State University for Negroes.
The NAACP recognized the courts as a powerful tool and began their desegregation efforts. In the decades following the Supreme Court’s decision in Plessy v. Ferguson, the organization filed several successful cases and applied that decision to schools. Although the Supreme Court rejected Sweatt, it did not overturn Plessy. In addition, it set a high standard for schools to desegregate despite the court’s rulings.
With the case of Heman Sweatt, the NAACP began its desegregation efforts. The case involved qualitative differences in the schools, such as student body and library holdings. The case also involved the legal education of the students, which was dominated by African-Americans. The case resulted in the Supreme Court invalidating the requirement that Black students sit in separate areas.
Heman Wilkins
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People was founded in 1909 in New York City. Its main goal was to eliminate racial discrimination in society, and in its early years, many of its leaders and members believed that integration was necessary for the black community. A few of the founding members of the NAACP began their desegregation efforts in law school.
In 1933, Nathan Margold resigned from the NAACP and joined the Interior Department as a solicitor. The NAACP and the American Fund for Public Service retained Charles H. Houston to direct their legal campaign against discrimination in education and interstate transportation. Houston diverged from Margold’s efforts and began suing state graduate and professional schools. The NAACP remained largely intact, though the earliest efforts were conducted by lawyers of color.