Filing of Brief Ends 22 Hectics Weeks for N.A.A.C.P. Lawyers

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"PRESS RELEASE 

NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND 
107 WEST 43 STREET * NEW YORK 36, N. Y. © JUdson 6-8397 

ARTHUR B. SPINGARN THURGOOD MARSHALL 
President Director and Counsel 

WALTER WHITE ROBERT L. CARTER 
Secretory Assistant Counsel 

ALLAN KNIGHT CHALMERS ARNOLD DE MILLE 
Press Relations “FOR RELEASE: November 16, 1953 

FILING OF BRIEF ENDS 22 HECTIC 
WEEKS FOR N,A.A.C.P. LAWYERS 

NEW YORK: The filing of the brief this week by NAACP lawyers 

in answer to the five questions asked by the United States Supreme 

Court in the school segregation cases represents the, united effort 

of 130 people of all races from 45 of the 48 States, It brings to 

an end twenty-two hectic weeks of intensive research and study. 

The staff of the Legal Defease and Educational Fund, Inec., 

consisting of six lawyers, six secretaries and two clerks, swung 

into action on June 9, one day after the court asked its now famous 

five questions, 

By midsummer, some staff workers wre -going two and three 

days without sleep, taking time out only to eat. By the end of 

October, no one was getting more than three or four hours sleep at 

a time. 

Enough coffee was consumed by the workers in the Legal Defense 

office to supply a regiment for a full week. 

Several of the lawyers have not had a meal with their 

families in four full months. The same is true of the clerical staff. 

Thurgood Marshall, who directed the work of the experts, has 

slept in his own bed at home eight times in the past four months and 

has only had dinner with his wife twice in the past three months. 

Six of the lawyers who came to New York to work on the brief have not 

seentheir wives in three months. 

The secretaries and volunteers put in shifts of fifteen to . 

v‘wenty hours a day, seven days a week, without requesting extra pay. 

All members of the NAACP legal staff gave up their vacation 

time, 

The staff has used 1,000,600 sheets of copy paper, 6,000,225 

sheets of manifold, 2,700 stencils, more than twelve million sheets 

of mimeographing paper and 115,000-sheets of carbon paper. 

Many volunteers gave up endless hours after their regular 

jobs for the cause, Among the volunteers were Mrs. Nona Pierce, 



former secretary in the NAACP who volunteered her services and worked 

long hours proofing copy, and Mr. Leon Taylor, Scores of others 

across the country, particularly in South Carolina, Delaware, 

Virginia and the District of Columbia, have contributed thousands of 

dollars worth of working hours. 

The financing of the NAACP cases was actually done by the 

American public, with individual donations starting from pennies 

contributed by orphans and school children, to thousands of dollars 

from groups and organizations. Their contributions ranged from $5 to 

$7,500, 

The Negro papers played an invaluable role in emphasizing the 

importance of the cases. In addition to running a series of thirteen 

advertisements calling attention to the work being done by the Legal 

Defense, publishers and editors, through editorjals, urged readers to 

make contributions directly to the organization. 

Individual fund-raising campaigns were conducted by some of the 

larger newspapers. The Pittsburgh Courier had its "EE" (Equality in 

Education) campaign; the Afro-American carried on the "Doller or more 

will open the door" campaign; and the Birmingham World called its 

campaign "Put up or shut up", 

Approximately $14,000 were collected through such efforts. 

Social affairs were given by individuals and amall groups in a 

number of cities. Several thousand dollars were raised in this manner, 

Organizations such as the Masons, Elks, Brotherhood of Sleeping 

Car Porters and the Robert Marshall Civil Liberties Trust held meetings 

in the interest of the cases, and made sizable contributions. 

"We are overjoyed by the slipport we have received from our own 

group", said Thurgood Marshall. "The response and contributions far 

exceeded everything we had hoped for," 

He pointed out that some 70% of the money raised was contributed 

by the Negroes, 

Marshall's original estimate was that the minimum cost of the 

cases would be $52,000, It was later raised to $39,200. 

"It is doubtful if we could have gotten away as cheaply as we 

did had we not had the wholehearted and unoualified help and support 

of the experts who served without pay," Marshall said. 

Some 325,000 miles were covered by lawyers who shuttled back 

and forth across the nation working on the cases, among whom are: 

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Loren Miller, Los Angeles; U. S. Tate, Dallas; William R. Ming, Jr., 

Chicago; William Coleman, Philadelphia; Spottswood Robinson, III 

and Oliver Hill, Richmond; James M. Nabrit, George E.C; Hayes 

Frank Reeves, Washington, D.C. 

Legal Defense staffers are Thurgood Marshall, Director and 

Counsel; Robert L. Carter, Assistant; Constance Baker Motley, 

Jack Greenberg, Elwood Chisolm and David Pinsky, associate lawyers; 

June Shagaloff and Daniel E, Byrd, Field Secretaries; Alice Stovall, 

secretary to Mr. Marshall; Princene Hutcherson, Grace Richardson, 

Phyllis Murray, Arlene Walton, Jean Brown and Dorothy DeLisser, 

secretaries; Maxine DeMena and Julia Stovall, clerks. 

In addition, Julia E, Baxter, Research Assistant of the NAACP, 

spent many sleepless nights working on the research material. The 

entire clerical staff of the NAACP (National) gave of their time. 

Cecilia Suyat, secretary in the National Office of the NAACP gave of 

her time, as did Anna Carter, June Nearon and Reginald Cooper of the 

elerical staff. 

Marshall and Harold R. Boulware of South Carolina are the 

attorneys for the parents and students in the Clarendon County case; 

Spottswood Robinson, III and Oliver W. Hill, attorneys for the Virginia 

case; Charles Scott and Robert L. Carter, Kansas, Jack Greenberg, 

Louis T, Redding, Delaware; James M, Nabrit and George E,C. Hayes, 

District of Columbia case, 

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