Seek New School Integration for Oklahoma City Children
Press Release
January 1, 1967

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Press Releases, Volume 4. Seek New School Integration for Oklahoma City Children, 1967. 14297c75-b792-ee11-be37-00224827e97b. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/ac45d544-1a50-487a-adff-0309e63f4ec4/seek-new-school-integration-for-oklahoma-city-children. Accessed July 16, 2025.
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President Hon. Francis E. Rivers PRESS RELEASE Director-Counsel egal efense lund Jack Greenberg Director, Public Relations NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND, INC. ieee 10 Columbus Circle, New York, N.Y. 10019 * JUdson 6-8397 NIGHT NUMBER 212-749-8487 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE SEEK NEW SCHOOL INTEGRATION FOR OKLAHOMA CITY CHILDREN OKLAHOMA CITY---The U.S. Court of Appeals was asked to approve an open school enrollment plan this week covering Negroes living in 18 school attendance areas here. Taking a cue from their recent victory in the U.S. Court of Ap- peals for the Fifth Circuit, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) attorneys filed a supplemental brief in the Oklahoma City school desegregation case now before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit. The LDF attorneys argue that the case before the 10th Circuit is principally the same as the one which resulted in the landmark victory from the Fifth Circuit. The Fifth Circuit Court, in a sweeping decision, held that the "only school desegregation plan that meets constitutional standards is the one that works." It ordered all federal courts under its juris- diction to follow the guidelines set by the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare in a school desegregation order. The new case, before the 10th Circuit, involves an earlier appeal by the Oklahoma City Board of Education against the Federal District Court order which provides for immediate school integration based on a plan recommended by a panel of educators. The plan, as proposed by three specialists in educational fields, sets down transfer policy which would permit students to transfer only to schools where they would be in a racial minority, This plan, in effect provides for open enrollment for Negroes living in 18 school attendance areas, allowing them to attend any school in the city which has a majority of white pupils. Another provision combined the attendance districts of Harding and Northwest High Schools and Classen and Central High Schools, making one school in each pair a junior high and the other a senior high. Attorneys for the LDF contend that this plan, if allowed to oper- ate, may produce a method for achieving comprehensive integration of classrooms across the country. The three-judge panel, which took the case under advisement on May 25, 1966, has not yet reached a decision. Ordinarily opinions on lower court decisions are issued by the Circuit Court within 60 days after the arguments, A longer time may elapse when the Circuit judges are unable to agree on an opinion or when matters of major importance are under consideration, as they are in the Oklahoma City case. The LDF attorneys feel, therefore, that the filing of the supple- mental brief, based on the Fifth Circuit precedent-setting decision, would have important bearing on the deliberations now under way by the three-judge panel. The attorneys arguing the case for the LDF are U, Simson Tate of Wewoka, Oklahoma, and Director-Counsel Jack Greenberg, James MM, Nabrit, III, and Michael J. Henry of the New York office. 2306 E25