Another Round in the Little Rock School Case Oct. 1

Press Release
September 24, 1959

Another Round in the Little Rock School Case Oct. 1 preview

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  • Press Releases, Loose Pages. Another Round in the Little Rock School Case Oct. 1, 1959. ebc7417b-bc92-ee11-be37-00224827e97b. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/904ee907-8bc4-40a6-82f1-2d973b74165a/another-round-in-the-little-rock-school-case-oct-1. Accessed July 30, 2025.

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NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND 
10 COLUMBUS CIRCLE e 

DR. ALLAN KNIGHT CHALMERS 
President 

JUdson 6-8397 

THURGOOD MARSHALL 
Director-Counsel 

NEW YORK 19,N.Y. « 

ANOTHER ROUND IN THE LITTLE ROCK 
SCHOOL CASE OCT. 1 

Little Rock, Ark., Sept. 24.--Another legal round in the Little 

Rock school case comes up in the Federal District Court Thursday, 

October 1 at Fort Smith, Ark. 

It is a hearing on several motions filed on behalf of Negro 

students in Little Rock. Among the motions is one challenging the 

school board's action in rejecting Negro students who sought admission 

to predominantly white high schools. Another seeks to substitute the 

three new school board members in the suit in place of the three mem- 

bers removed in a recall election last spring. A third asks the 

court's permission to add 14 additional Negro students as parties in 

the case. 

The Little Rock case began in February 1956. The court approved 

in August 1956 the school board's plan which called for complete 

desegregation of the city's school system in three phases. The first 

phase was to begin at the high school level in September 1957. The 

second phase called for desegregation of the junior high schools two 

or three years later, and the third phase provided that elementary 

desegregation be completed by 1963. Since the filing of the case, 

there have been more than three dozen hearings in various federal 

courts, including the U. S, Supreme Court. 

Attorneys for the Negro students have been successful in prevent~ 

ing the school authorities from leasing public school buildings to a 

private corporation established to operate all-white schools. In 

June 1959, a special three-judge District Court ruled the school clos- 

ing laws, sponsored by Gov. Faubus, invalid. The Governor's attorneys 

have indicated that they will appeal this ruling directly to the U. S. 

Supreme Court. 

Attorneys for the Negro students are Thurgood Marshall, director- 
counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, of New York 
City, and Wiley A. Branton of Pine Bluff, Ark. 

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