Clinton v. Jeffers Motion to Dismiss
Public Court Documents
February 21, 1992

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Press Releases, Loose Pages. A U.S. federal court today ordered the Harford County of Board Education…, 1960. d4203a99-bc92-ee11-be37-00224827e97b. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/56351b76-55c1-41d5-b389-cd9aa558a4d0/a-us-federal-court-today-ordered-the-harford-county-of-board-education. Accessed April 06, 2025.
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PRESS RELEASE ® @ NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND 10 COLUMBUS CIRCLE «© NEW YORK 19,N.Y. © JUdson 6-8397 DR. ALLAN KNIGHT CHALMERS oa THURGOOD MARSHALL President Director-Counsel BALTIMORE, MD., May 25.--A U. S. federal court today ordered the Harford County Board of Education to admit a Negro student, who was recently barred from the Aberdeen, Md. High School, to the 10th grade at the 1960-61 term. The student, Alvin Dwight Pettit, a 14 year old 9th grader who moved to Aberdeen last year, applied for admission to the 1959-60 school term last summer. He was rejected because the Harford Board of Education's stair-step desegregation plan did not include the grade to which he sought admission. The Harford County Board of Education's stair-step plan is described as piecemeal and complicated. It provides for desegregation at some grade levels in certain schools but different grades at other schools, The plan did not include desegregation of the 9th grade at Aberdeen High School at the time Pettit applied. Integration of the 9th grade is scheduled to begin with the 1960-61 school term. The 10th grade will not be desegregated until 1961-62. The plan, however, does provide for the acceptance of students who, in the judgment of the school authorities, can make "satisfactory adjustment" in the classes to which they seek admission. According to the attorneys for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund who appeared in behalf of the Negro student, his past school performance was about that of the average student at Aberdeen High School. The court ruled today that the Negro student is entitled to a chance to make good at Aberdeen High School and should have been per- mitted to enroll at the time he applied, NAACP Legal Defense Fund attorneys for Pettit are Juanita Jackson Mitchell and Tucker Dearing, both of Baltimore, Md., Thurgood Marshall and Jack Greenberg of New York City. 21 90-—