Legal Defense Fund Asks Federal Court to Order Admission of Montgomery Negro to Alabama University Graduate School

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August 6, 1965

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Press Releases, Volume 3. Legal Defense Fund Asks Federal Court to Order Admission of Montgomery Negro to Alabama University Graduate School, 1965. 64be1d35-b692-ee11-be37-00224827e97b. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/483a25a5-515d-4f65-854f-1cb17082b749/legal-defense-fund-asks-federal-court-to-order-admission-of-montgomery-negro-to-alabama-university-graduate-school. Accessed May 21, 2025.

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    10 Columbus Circle 
New York, N.Y. 10019 
JUdson 6-8397 

NAACP 

Legal Defense and Educational Fund 
PRESS RELEASE 
Presiden 

Dr. Allan Knight Chalmers 
Director-Counsel FOR RELEASE 

Jack Greenberg Friday 
August 6, 1965 

LEGAL DEFENSE FUND ASKS FEDERAL COURT 
TO. ORDER ADMISSION OF MONTGOMERY NEGRO 
TO ALABAMA UNIVERSITY GRADUATE SCHOOL 

BIRMINGHAM---NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund lawyers will 
appear in Federal District Court here today to present a motion 
seeking the admission of a Negro girl to the University of Alabama 
Graduate School. 

The attornevs will ask Judge H. H. Grooms for a preliminary 
injunction against Eric Rodgers, dean of the Graduate School, and 
William R, Bennett, dean of Admissions, prohibiting them from 
refusing admission to Miss Theresa Whetstone of Montgomery. 

Miss Whetstone's complaint, filed Monday, alleges she was FS 
denied admission to the graduate school as direct result of a i 
policy of maintaining segregated schools in Alabama. 

She applied for admission to the graduate school shortly after 
graduation from Negro Alabama State College in May. However, 
Mr. Rodgers and Mr, Bennett informed her she did not qualify Se 
because she was a graduate of an unaccredited institution. s 

The suit contends that since Alabama State College is a staten’) 
supported institution, designated by state legislation as being A 
limited to Negroes, the rejection of her application "because she 4%, 
attended one of the two institutions to which she was limited :4 
solely because of her race and color" is a denial of her 
constitutional rights. 

The other state-supported Negro institution is Alabama A & M % 
College, which was unaccredited when Miss Whetstone entered college 
in 1962, but has since been accredited. 

Fred B. Gray of Montgomery, a Legal Defense Fund cooperating 
attorney participating in the case, said that in a similar 
situation, a Federal District Court ordered the admission of a ; 
Negro to Alabama-supported Auburn University. The Federal Circuit 
Court of Appeals upheld the ruling, 

Gray said "eight to ten" Negro graduate students and under- 
graduates presently attend Alabama University, Miss Vivian Malone 

became the university's first Negro graduate last June. 

A Negro, Miss Autherine Lucy, was admitted to the university * 
in 1956, but was suspended and never attended classes after 
rioting broke out on the campus. 

The Legal Defense Fund suit asks that the University of 
Alabama be enjoined from refusing to admit Miss Whetstone or others 
similarly situated to its graduate school because of race or color 
or because they attended unaccredited colleges operated by the 
state where such attendance was required because of their race. 

Also representing Miss Whetstone are Jack Greenberg, Legal 
Defense Fund director-counsel, and Charles H. Jones of the Fund's 
New York staff. 

& 

seen? race ee 

Jesse DeVore, Jr., Director of Public Information—Night Number 212 Riverside 9-8487

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Legal Defense Fund Asks Federal Court to Order Admission of Montgomery Negro to Alabama University Graduate School

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