Thurgood Marshall's Strategy to Dismantle 'Separate but Equal' Through Education Lawsuits
In November 1945, Thurgood Marshall, who led the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, revealed intentions to enroll a Black student at the University of Oklahoma, contesting the 'separate but equal' principle established by Plessy v. Ferguson (1896). Significant events included the 1946 rejection of Ada Lois Sipuel, which resulted in a favorable Supreme Court decision in 1948, and George McLaurin's segregated admission. Marshall presented arguments in the Sweatt and McLaurin cases in April 1950, culminating in a Supreme Court ruling on June 5, 1950, that opposed segregation. In 1951, Oliver Brown's case initiated Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, where Chief Justice Earl Warren referenced Marshall's earlier cases. Born on June 2, 1908, in Baltimore, Marshall was inspired by his own experience of being denied law school admission.
Key facts
- Thurgood Marshall announced his plan to enroll a Black student at the University of Oklahoma in November 1945.
- Marshall was head of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and had won two of his first three Supreme Court cases.
- The strategy involved challenging 'separate but equal' through higher education cases.
- Ada Lois Sipuel was denied admission to the University of Oklahoma law school in 1946; the Supreme Court ruled in her favor in 1948.
- George McLaurin was admitted to the University of Oklahoma but forced to sit apart from white students.
- Heman Sweatt filed suit to enroll at the University of Texas law school; the state set up a separate law school for him.
- In 1950, the Supreme Court ruled in Sweatt and McLaurin cases that segregation policies must be abolished but did not overturn Plessy.
- Brown v. Board of Education (1954) cited Marshall's previous cases as precedent and declared 'separate but equal' unconstitutional in public education.
- Marshall was denied admission to the University of Maryland law school due to race, motivating his career.
- Marshall graduated from Howard University Law School, where he was mentored by Charles Houston.
- Marshall was born in Baltimore on June 2, 1908.
- His mother pawned her rings to pay his law school fees.
Entities
Artists
- Thurgood Marshall
- Ada Lois Sipuel
- George McLaurin
- Heman Sweatt
- Oliver Brown
- Linda Brown
- Charles Houston
- Lloyd Gaines
- Nathan Margold
- Fred Vinson
- Earl Warren
- Langston Hughes
- Victor Luckerson
- Hsiao-Ron Cheng
Institutions
- NAACP Legal Defense Fund
- University of Oklahoma
- University of Maryland
- Howard University
- University of Missouri
- University of Texas
- Topeka school board
- Supreme Court
- Smithsonian Magazine
Locations
- McAlester
- Oklahoma
- United States
- Baltimore
- Maryland
- Tulsa
- Greenwood
- Texas
- Kansas
- Topeka
- Mississippi
- Tennessee
- Clinton High School