naacp lawyer who argued the brown v. board case before the supreme court.

by Stephania Marquardt 10 min read

As the first white attorney for the NAACP, Jack Greenberg helped to argue Brown v. Board of Education at the U.S. Supreme Court level.Mar 29, 2022

What did the Brown v Board do?

NAACP Lawyer who argued the brown v. Board of Education case before the Supreme Court President who ordered soldiers to protect African-American students trying to integrate a white high school in Little Rock, Arkansas YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE...

What did the Supreme Court say in Aaron V Brown?

Aaron, the Court reaffirmed its ruling in Brown, and explicitly stated that state officials and legislators had no power to nullify its ruling. For much of the sixty years preceding the Brown case, race relations in the United States had been dominated by racial segregation.

How did North Carolina respond to the Brown ruling?

In North Carolina, there was often a strategy of nominally accepting Brown, but tacitly resisting it. On May 18, 1954, the Greensboro, North Carolina school board declared that it would abide by the Brown ruling. This was the result of the initiative of D. E. Hudgins Jr., a former Rhodes Scholar and prominent attorney, who chaired the school board.

Who was the first black attorney for the NAACP?

The first African American admitted to the Delaware bar, Louis Redding was part of the NAACP legal team that challenged school segregation. As the first white attorney for the NAACP, Jack Greenberg helped to argue Brown v.

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Who was the lawyer for Brown vs Board of Education?

Thurgood MarshallAs a lawyer and judge, Thurgood Marshall strived to protect the rights of all citizens. His legacy earned him the nickname "Mr. Civil Rights." Thurgood Marshall was born Thoroughgood Marshall on June 2, 1908 in Baltimore, Maryland.

Who argued the Brown case?

Thurgood MarshallCounty School Board of Prince Edward County (1952). Brown v. Board of Education was argued on December 9, 1952. The attorney for the plaintiffs was Thurgood Marshall, who later became the first African American to serve on the Supreme Court (1967–91).

Who were the attorneys for Topeka Board of Education?

At trial, the Scott brothers and Bledsoe were joined by NAACP lawyers Robert Carter and Jack Greenberg. Counsel for the Topeka School Board were also Washburn Law graduates. Lester Goodell '25 served as chief trial counsel with George Brewster '29. Both men were partners in the firm Wheeler, Brewster, Hunt and Goodell.

Did Thurgood Marshall argue Brown v Board?

Marshall won a series of court decisions that gradually struck down that doctrine, ultimately leading to Brown v. Board of Education, which he argued before the Supreme Court in 1952 and 1953, finally overturning “separate but equal” and acknowledging that segregation greatly diminished students' self-esteem.

What was Linda Brown's argument?

In his lawsuit, Brown claimed that schools for Black children were not equal to the white schools, and that segregation violated the so-called “equal protection clause” of the 14th Amendment, which holds that no state can “deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

What role did the NAACP play in Brown v. Board of Education?

Their mission was to eliminate lynching, and to fight racial and social injustice, primarily through legal action. Significance: The NAACP became the primary tool for the legal attack on segregation, eventually trying the Brown v. Board of Education case.

Who is regarded as the intellectual architect of the Brown vs Board of Education case?

Tomiko Brown-Nagin talks about the legacy of Charles Hamilton Houston, the architect of the legal strategy that led to the 1954 Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education.

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

The 13 plaintiffs were: Oliver Brown, Darlene Brown, Lena Carper, Sadie Emmanuel, Marguerite Emerson, Shirley Fleming, Zelma Henderson, Shirley Hodison, Maude Lawton, Alma Lewis, Iona Richardson, Vivian Scales, and Lucinda Todd. The last surviving plaintiff, Zelma Henderson, died in Topeka, on May 20, 2008, at age 88.

What did Earl Warren and Thurgood Marshall do?

The pivotal roles of Thurgood Marshall and Earl Warren on the arguing and deciding of Brown v. Board of Education makes them vital and influential players in the American story of race relations and the evolution of the American judicial tradition.

Was Thurgood Marshall in the naacp?

Soon after, Marshall joined Houston at NAACP as a staff lawyer. In 1940, he was named chief of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which was created to mount a legal assault against segregation. Marshall became one of the nation's leading attorneys.

What was Constance Baker Motley known for?

With her appointment to the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York on January 25, 1966, Constance Baker Motley (1921–2005; Columbia Law School 1946, 2003) became the first African American woman appointed to the federal judiciary. She was appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson.

What was the respondent argument for Brown v. Board of Education?

They argued that such segregation violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The plaintiffs were denied relief in the lower courts based on Plessy v. Ferguson, which held that racially segregated public facilities were legal so long as the facilities for blacks and whites were equal.

What was being argued in the Brown vs Board of Education?

They argued that keeping black students separate from white students violated the equal protection and due process clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment. Brown v. Board of Education was a consolidated case, meaning that several related cases were combined to be heard before the Supreme Court.

Who Won the Brown vs Board of Education case?

the U.S. Supreme CourtMay 17, 1954: In a major civil rights victory, the U.S. Supreme Court hands down an unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, ruling that racial segregation in public educational facilities is unconstitutional.

What was the majority opinion of Brown vs Board of Education?

Board 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. State-sanctioned segregation of public schools was a violation of the 14th Amendment and was therefore unconstitutional.

What was the impact of Brown's victory on the civil rights movement?

But striking down segregation in the nation’s public schools provided a major catalyst for the civil rights movement, making possible advances in desegregating housing, public accommodations , and institutions of higher education.

What was the Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. LDF?

Although the Supreme Court’s decision in Brown was ultimately unanimous, it occurred only after a hard-fought, multi-year campaign to persuade all nine justices to overturn ...

Which Supreme Court case ruled that segregation be abolished?

It was not until LDF’s subsequent victories in Green v. County School Board (1968) and Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg (1971) that the Supreme Court issued mandates that segregation be dismantled “root and branch,” outlined specific factors to be considered to eliminate effects of segregation, and ensured that federal district courts had ...

Who discovered that black dolls were inferior to white dolls?

This research included psychologist Kenneth Clark ’s now-famous doll experiments, which demonstrated the impact of segregation on black children – Clark found black children were led to believe that black dolls were inferior to white dolls and, by extension, that they were inferior to their white peers.

Who was the first black person to serve as a Supreme Court law clerk?

These LDF lawyers were assisted by a brain trust of legal scholars, including future federal district court judges Louis Pollack and Jack Weinstein, along with William Coleman, the first black person to serve as a Supreme Court law clerk.

Who was the first director of the LDF?

This campaign was conceived in the 1930s by Charles Hamilton Houston, then Dean of Howard Law School, and brilliantly executed in a series of cases over the next two decades by his star pupil, Thurgood Marshall, who became LDF’s first Director-Counsel.

What did Marshall do for the Supreme Court?

During his nearly 25-year tenure on the Supreme Court, Marshall fought for affirmative action for minorities, held strong against the death penalty, and supported of a woman's right to choose if an abortion was appropriate for her.

What was the impact of Marshall's rule on the Supreme Court?

His mission was equal justice for all. Marshall used the power of the courts to fight racism and discrimination, tear down Jim Crow segregation, change the status quo, and make life better for the most vulnerable in our nation.

How many cases did Marshall win?

Marshall became one of the nation's leading attorneys. He argued 32 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, winning 29. Some of his notable cases include: Smith v. Allwright (1944), which found that states could not exclude Black voters from primaries. Shelley v.

What was Marshall's first legal case?

After graduating from Howard, one of Marshall's first legal cases was against the University of Maryland Law School in the 1935 case Murray v. Pearson. Working with his mentor Charles Hamilton Houston, Marshall sued the school for denying admission to Black applicants solely on the basis of race.

What was Marshall's most famous case?

Marshall's most famous case was the landmark 1954 Brown v. Board of Education case in which Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren noted, "in the field of public education, the doctrine of 'separate but equal' has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.".

Who was the first black supreme court justice?

Thurgood Marshall. Thurgood Marshall was a civil rights lawyer who used the courts to fight Jim Crow and dismantle segregation in the U.S. Marshall was a towering figure who became the nation's first Black United States Supreme Court Justice.

Where did Marshall go to law school?

A native of Baltimore, Maryland, Marshall graduated from Lincoln University in Pennsylvania in 1930. He applied to the University of Maryland Law School but was rejected because he was Black. Marshall received his law degree from Howard University Law School in 1933, graduating first in his class.

Thurgood Marshall

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

Louis Redding

The first African American admitted to the Delaware bar, Louis Redding was part of the NAACP legal team that challenged school segregation.

Jack Greenberg

As the first white attorney for the NAACP, Jack Greenberg helped to argue Brown v. Board of Education at the U.S. Supreme Court level.

Thurgood Marshall

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

George E.C. Hayes

George E.C. Hayes was responsible for starting the oral argument of Bolling v. Sharpe, the case which originated in the District of Columbia

Charles Hamilton Houston

Houston developed a "Top-Down" integration strategy, and became known as "The Man Who Killed Jim Crow" for his desegregation work.

James Nabrit, Jr

Nabrit took over Charles Hamilton Houston's work on the Bolling v. Sharpe case which went to the U.S. Supreme Court alongside four others.

What is the movie Simple Justice about?

A PBS film called "Simple Justice" retells the story of the Brown vs. Board of Education case, beginning with the work of the NAACP's Legal Defense Fund's efforts to combat 'separate but equal' in graduate school education and culminating in the historical 1954 decision.

What did the Southerners view Brown as?

Many Southern white Americans viewed Brown as "a day of catastrophe —a Black Monday —a day something like Pearl Harbor ." In the face of entrenched Southern opposition, progress on integrating American schools moved slowly:

How many pages did the Brown II decision have?

However, the decision's 14 pages did not spell out any sort of method for ending racial segregation in schools, and the Court's second decision in Brown II ( 349 U.S. 294 (1955)) only ordered states to desegregate "with all deliberate speed".

What was the Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka?

483 (1954), was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that U.S. state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools are unconstitutional, even if the segregated schools are otherwise equal in quality.

Why was the Board of Education of Topeka named after Oliver Brown?

The Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas" was named after Oliver Brown as a legal strategy to have a man at the head of the roster. The lawyers, and the National Chapter of the NAACP, also felt that having Mr. Brown at the head of the roster would be better received by the U.S. Supreme Court Justices.

When did Brown II take place?

In 1955, the Supreme Court considered arguments by the schools requesting relief concerning the task of desegregation. In their decision, which became known as " Brown II " the court delegated the task of carrying out school desegregation to district courts with orders that desegregation occur "with all deliberate speed," a phrase traceable to Francis Thompson 's poem, " The Hound of Heaven ."

When did segregation end in Topeka?

The Board of Education of Topeka began to end segregation in the Topeka elementary schools in August 1953, integrating two attendance districts.

What was the significance of the February 1 rally?

Reel Americans: February One. The 1954 Supreme Court declaration that "separate is not equal" inspired a generation of civil rights activists . February One told the story of the Greensboro lunch counter sit-ins, exploring the impact of that demonstration on the civil rights movement, on the city of Greensboro, and on the lives ...

How long did the Montgomery protest last?

Their organized protest lasted for 381 days and ignited a movement that changed our nation in innumerable ways.

Who was the president of the Organization of American Historians?

Powell, legal scholar and executive director of the Kirwin Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at Ohio State University; James Horton , president-elect of the Organization of American Historians; and Vence Bonham of the National Genome Research Institute.

Who argued Brown vs Board of Education?

Jack Greenberg, as attorney with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, argued the Brown v. Board of Education cases before the Supreme Court. On the 50th anniversary of that decision, in a conversation moderated by Julian Bond, NAACP Chair, Greenberg reflected on the organization that helped change American society. Book signing followed. 12:30 p.m., Reception Suite.

Who is Ling-Chi Wang?

Ling-chi Wang, professor of Ethnic Studies at the University of California at Berkeley, discussed his prominent role in establishing minority language rights in American education and the larger implications of race relations during the past half century. He also suggested global trends affecting race and language in the future.

Who is the author of "Separate is not equal"?

The exhibition Separate is Not Equal was previewed at an opening reception featuring Dr. John Hope Franklin, Professor Emeritus of History at Duke University and author of many important publications on African American history—including the landmark book From Slavery to Freedom.

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