Dixon v. Alabama Board of Education Brief for Appellants

    ; > . National Office » Ke 

i NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE 99 Hudson Street ( 
AND EDUCATIONAL FUND, INC. New York, N.Y. 10013-2897 (212) 219-1900 Fax: (212) 226-7592 

May 27, 1993 

Ms. Elizabeth Sheff 

144 Mark Twain Drive 

Hartford, Connecticut 06112 

Dear Ms. Sheff: 

| would like permission to use the photograph of you and your son, Milo, 

taken by Hartford Courant Photographer Cloe Poisson that appeared in the 

Thursday, April 27, 1989, issue of The Hartford Courant on the front page (1A). 

For your convenience, | have attached a copy of the photograph that ran with a 

news story about Hartford's school desegregation case, Sheff v. O'Neil, in which 

you are the lead plaintiff. 

The photo will be reprinted one time only and will appear in the 1992 

Annual Report of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. in our 

education litigation section along with an account of LDF’s participation in the 

case. 

| have already received permission from The Hartford Courant for the use 

of this photograph, giving the newspaper a credit for the photo, in our annual 

report. 

LDF’s 1992 Annual Report has a circulation of 10,000 and the recipients 

include Legal Defense Fund supporters and contributors as well as other 

members of the national civil rights community. 

As you know from your longtime relationship with LDF, we are a non-profit, 

civil rights law firm and we do not make a profit on our annual report. 

We would like for you to read, fill-out, sign and quickly mail back to us the 

enclosed release form giving us permission to use the photograph of you and 

your son in the Legal Defense Fund's 1992 Annual Report. A stamped, return- 

addressed envelope has been enclosed for your convenience. 

Regional Offices 

Contributions are The NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) is not part Suite 301 Suite 208 
deductible for U.S. of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People 1275 K Street, NW 315 West Ninth Street 
income tax purposes. (NAACP) although LDF was founded by the NAACP and shares its Washington, DC 20005 Los Angeles, CA 90015 

commitment to equal rights. LDF has had for over 30 years a separate (202) 682-1300 (213) 624-2405 
Board, program, staff, office and budget. Fax: (202) 682-1312 Fax: (213) 624-0075 

 



  

Ms. Sheff 

Page 2 

In advance, we thank you for your cooperation and speedy response to our 

request. 

Sincerely, 

QQ — 

Marva York 

Writer/Editor 

cc: Elaine Jones 

Theodore Shaw 

Ron Ellis | 

Marianne Engelman Lado 

  

Date 

1, (Print Name), give the NAACP Legal 

Elizabeth Sheff 
  

Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. permission to use a photograph of me 

and my son, (Print Name), in the Legal 

Milo 
  

Defense Fund’s 1992 Annual Report. 

  

(Signature) 

*Note: Please fill-out, sign and return this form in the enclosed stamped, 

return-addressed envelope. 

 



 



  

  a — 

  

ABUSED 1 TRS DAILY EDITION VOL JLING 117 

" 
The 2 

THURSDAY APRIL 27, 1989— J SECTICNS 

  

  

rreww " COPYRIGHT 1989. THE HARTFORD COURANT C2 

  
  

.
 

  

Suit could redr 
Dese gregation action 
fights city-suburb split 
  

on 
suit at a glance 
# The piadertifts: 17 children, 15 
from Hartford and two from West 

B Where: The suit will be filed m 
Hartford Supenor Court. 

H When: Papers will be served 
on the defendants and filed in 
court today. 

      

  
  

By ROBERT A. FRAHM 
Courant Education Writer 

Civil rights leaders will file a long- 
awaited scnool desegregation lawsuit 
today that couid radically change 
Connecticut's long-standing system of 
separate city and suburban school dis- 
trices. 

The suit on behalf of a black Hart- 
ford fourth grader and 16 other chil- 
dren and teenagers challenges a sys- 
tem under which city and suburban 
schools have grown increasingly seg- 
regated in the past two decades. 

The 29-page complaint will be filed 
in Superior Court against Gov. Wil- 
liam A. O'Neill and other officials, 
charging that racially segregated 
schools in Hartford violate the Con- 
necticut Consutution. lawyers said. 

“Evervbody beiieves the only way 
we will get any action. good or bad. up 

. or down. is through court litigation.” 
said Jonn C. Brittain, a University of 
Connecticut law professor and one of 
10 lawyers who will argue the case. 

The lawsuit, which could take years 
to resolve. does not outline specific 
proposals for ending racial segrega- 
tion in Hartford. where minority stu- 
dents make up 91 percent of public 
school enrollment. However, a soiu- 
tion undoubtedly would inciude the 
busing of students between the city 
and its mostly white suburbs, Brittain 

See Race, Page Al2 

10-year-old 1s showing 
‘spirit of the struggle’ 

By ROBERT A. FRAHM 
Courant Education Writer 

Milo Sheff. a black fourth grader 
who likes to paint and play a game 
called fireball, will become the lead- 
ing symbol in the legal battle over 
school desegregation in Connecticut. 

The prospect of instant fame and 
intense media attention doesn’t rattle 
the outgoing, talkative 10-year-old. 

“I'm .not thinking about that,” he 
said. “I'm thinking about better edu- 
cation for me and the kids after me.” 

A student at Annie Fisher School, 
where 99 percent of the students are 
black or Hispanic, Milo will become 

the lead plainuff in Sheff vs. O'Neill. a 
desegregation lawswt namung Gov. 
William A. O*Netll and other state 
officials. 

“Milo has the soint of the struggie.” 
said Elizapeth Sheff, a civil nights 
activist who, along with other parents, 
brought the suit on behalf of 17 black, 
Puerto Rican and white children from 
the Hartford area. 

“Milo and [ have discussed this.” 
said Sheff, a woman whose first brush 
with social upheaval came as a teen- 
ager “when [ was tear-gassed in the 
'60s.” 

See 10-vear-old, Page Al12 

  
  

chool lines 

Cioe Poisson / The Harttorg Couram 

BH Elizabeth Sheff and her son, Milo, 10, of Hartford, are key participants in Sheff vs. O° Neill, a lawsuit 
to be filed today. The suit will comtend that schools in Hartford are racially segregated, in violation of 
the state constitution. Milo is one of 17 plaintiffs in the case. His mother is a longtime social activist.