Florida Pupil Assignment Law Once More in Federal Court
Press Release
February 1, 1960

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Press Releases, Loose Pages. Florida Pupil Assignment Law Once More in Federal Court, 1960. 3e25e1b1-bc92-ee11-be37-00224827e97b. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/36a361ae-5774-4ba5-be8b-596acc70e610/florida-pupil-assignment-law-once-more-in-federal-court. Accessed May 13, 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 eS THURGOOD MARSHALL President Director-Counsel FLORIDA PUPIL ASSIGNMENT LAW ONCE MORE IN FEDERAL COURT February 1, 1960 PENSACOLA, FLA., Feb. 1.--The Florida Pupil Assignment Law came under legal attack here today with the filing of a complaint in the federal district court by attorneys for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. The complaint was filed on behalf of Negro children in Escambia County, Fla. and against the Board of Public Instruction of the County and its school officials. It seeks a court order prohibiting the school authorities from operating and maintaining a dual system of public education. The focal point of the attack in the complaint is the Florida Pupil Assignment Law which permits school authorities to assign public school pupils on the basis of "sociological, psychological, ethical and cultural background and social scientific factors." The law also gives the school officials authority to ask public school pupils seeking reassignment to give in detail specific reasons for the request and why they feel they would make a "normal adjustment" to the change in environment from one racial school system to the other. The Pupil Assignment Law, however, has been applied only to the assignment and reassignment of Negro students. In the complaint filed today, Legal Defense attorneys also charge the Escambia County school officials with maintaining two school zone lines, one for Negroes and the other for whites. The "colored school system" is staffed entirely by Negroes, the attorneys argue, and the "white" schools solely by whites. Attorneys for the Negro pupils are Thurgood Marshall and Constance Baker Motley of New York, and Charles F. Wilson of Pensacola, Fla. Fone