Unwed Mothers Win Chance to Complete Education

    NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND, INC. 

President 

tae Hon. Francis E. Rivers 
PRESS RELEASE Director-Counsel 

egal ‘efense und peek Greeabsre 
Director, Public Relations 

Jesse DeVore, Jr. 
10 Columbus Circle, New York, N.Y. 10019 * JUdson 6-8397 NIGHT NUMBER 212-749-8487 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
July 1, 1969 

UNWED MOTHERS WIN CHANCE 

TO COMPLETE EDUCATION 

Legal Defense Fund Moves on Their Behalf 

GRENADA, MISSISSIPPI--"The fact that a girl has one child out of 

wed-lock does not forever brand her as a scarlet woman undeserving 

of any chance for rehabilitation or the opportunity for future 
education." 

That was part of a federal court ruling won last week by the 

NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. 

Because of the ruling, two Negro girls in Mississippi--Clydie 

Marie Perry, 19 and Emma Jean Wilson, 16--have the opportunity to 

return to school next September. 

The girls became pregnant two years ago. Miss Perry was in the 

eleventh grade and Miss Wilson was completing eighth grade. They 

had, until LDF won last week's ruling, been denied readmission to 

schools in Grenada, Miss. where they both live. 

School board officials contending that their presence would be 

a bad influence on other students. 

LDF attorneys argued that the girls rights under the Equal 

Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution 

were violated by the school board. 

The federal court agreed, holding that the girls may not be 

excluded from school for the sole reason that they are unwed mothers. 

Testifying on behalf of the girls, their former teachers 

described them as good students, and said they had regained the 

respect of their community. 

The court noted that unwed mothers who are allowed to continue 

their education are less likely to have a second illegitimate child 

and said "it seems patently unreasonable that the girls should not 

have the opportunity to be readmitted on the basis of their changed 

moral and physical condition." 

LDF officials said that keeping the girls out of school for the 

past two years was another example of what measures southern school 

officials are willing to take to prevent integration. 

If the girls had been seeking readmission to an all black school 

LDF officials contend, it is quite likely that no difficulty whatever 

would have arisen. 

“30> 

NOTE: Please bear in mind that the LDF is a completely separate 

and distinct organization even though we were established 

by the NAACP and those initials are retained in our name. 

Our correct designation is NAACP Legal Defense and Educatii 
Fund, Inc., frequently shortened to LDF.