Sweatt v. Painter Motion and Brief Amicus Curiae

    SUPREM E CO U RT OF THE U N ITED  S T A T E S

October Term, 1949

NO. 667

HEMAN MARION SWEATT,

Petitioner,

vs.

THEOPHILIS SHICKEL PAINTER, ET AL.,
Respondents

On Writ of Certiorari to the Supreme Court 
of the State of Texas

MOTION AND BRIEF
For the Texas Council of Negro Organizations 

as Amicus Curiae

1 . N. D. W ells. Jr.
Marion C. Ladwu;

Counsel for Aotiius Curue
MlU l IN W. Win IS ANO IVvi l

of Ct»t*usel

* V*



TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGE
Motion for Leave to File Brief as Amicus Curiae..........................  1

Brief for the Texas Council of Negro Organizations as Amicus 
Curiae ..........................................    5

Opinions Below and Jurisdiction.........................................   5

Statement of the Case ................................................................  5

Summary of Argument .......................    7

Argument ..........................................    8

1. Education ..............................................     12

2. Politics :................................................................................... 18

3. Other Areas of Crumbling Segregation Barriers...... 19

Conclusion ..................................................................................................  22

APPENDIX

A. List of State-Wide Affiliates of the Texas Council of Negro
Organizations ..........    25

B. Consent of Petitioner for Filing Amicus Curiae Brief ........  27

C. Report of First Negro Student to Enter the Medical School,
University of Texas ............................................................................ 28

D. Report of First Negro Student to Enter the Law School,
University of Oklahoma ................................................................... 29

E. Report of First Negro Student to Enter the Medical School,
University of Arkansas .................    31

F. Excerpt from The Journal of Negro Education, Vol. X IX ,
No. 1, Winter, 1950 ........................................................   33

G. Article Printed in The Dallas Morning News, Negro attack
on Segregation, February 2, 1950 ...............    36

H. Report on Interracial Activities, Texas Methodist Student
Movement, Rev. Paul Deats .......................................................... 40

(i)



CASES CITED

PAGE
Grovey v. Townsend, 295 US 45 ..........................................................  18

Nixon v. Condon, 286 US 73 ............................................................... 18

Nixon v. Herndon, 273 US 536 .......................................................... 18

Oyama v. California, 332 US 633 ........................................................ 22

Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 US 537 ........................................... .7, 8, 18, 22

Smith t*. Allwright, 321 US 6 4 9 ............................................................  18

West Coast Hotel v. Parrish, 300 US 379 ........................................ 22

OTHER AUTHORITIES CITED

PAGE
Allen. J. S., The Negro Question in the United States, New 

York, 1936 ____________________________________________  11

The Crisis, Vol. 57, No. 1 ("Southern College Teachers Repu­
diate Jim Crow”) _______________________________________ 17

The Daily Texan. Jan. 10, 1950 ......................... ................................  17

The Dallas Morning News, Feb. 2, 1950 ............... ...........................19

13 Federal Register 4311, July 26, 1948 _____________________20

Fraiier, F. Franklin, The Negro in the United States, Macmil­
lan. New York. 1949 _________________________________ 9s, 11

5 See<\\ Negro Problem." Encyclopaedia of the So­
cial S d tK tt X I .............................. ........1__________________ 4  i i

rice: "a.\ F "... Race Traits and Tendencies of die Nrer-cm  
Negros New York. tSdT..................... ............................................ 11

cv— .a oc Negro VAscarocv, Y e l  XIX . Ncv 1. Rt’inrser. i4Sl__ I?

Y . tX, Swuhtwi M ilisCis Knffe. New Y«ek 1SMI_____ a
-sex'. . x*nr. c  s s  •: :d Fa.-ov. v V .v c  '.■-•ansc* - s s .

» ......... .................................  ............ 9

v - „V -\* N x - v  idiC', New Y -cs . .AX : :

vsnnns c- Amt'.'K*.* TYtarnwac New Tax.  x ™.
New Yrck Times. Sqpmfcer Tic ___________________ Id

The Oklahoma D kiX Tan. 15, 1948 ........................ ..... ................ >s



The Oklahoma Daily, Nov. 10, 1949 .................................................

The Oklahoma Daily, Dec. 16, 1949 .................................................

Oklahoma Statute, House Bill No. 405, 1949 .................................

Page, T. N., The Negro, The Southerners’ Problem, New York, 
1904 .......................................................................................................

The Postal Bulletin, Sept. 20, 1949 ("Procedure relative to fair 
employment practices” ) .............................................................. .

Proceedings, Texas State Federation of Labor, 50th Conven­
tion, 1948, Fort Worth, Texas, June 21-June 24......................

San Antonio Register, April 9, 1948 ...................................................

Simpkins, B. F., The South, Old and New, Knopf, New York, 
1947 ............................................. ..................................................  8, 9,

The Southern Patriot, New Orleans, La., Vol. 7, No. 8, Oct., 
1949 ......................................................................................................

Stone, A. H., Studies in the American Race Problem, New 
York, 1908 .........................................................................................

Strong, D. S., The Rise of Negro Voting in Texas, 1948 Amer. 
Pol. Sci., Rev. 42 ..............................................................................

Thomas, W . H., The American Negro, New York, 1901.............

Thompson, Charles H., "Separate But Not Equal,” Southwest 
Review, Southern Methodist Univ. Press, Dallas, 1948, 
Vol. X X X III, No. 2 ...................................................................16,

14

14

13

11

20

20

19

10

15

11

18

11

17



IN THE

SUPREM E COURT OF THE UNITED  S T A T E S
October Term, 1949

NO. 667

HEMAN MARION SWEATT,

Petitioner,

vs.

THEOPHILIS SHICKEL PAINTER, ET AL.,
Respondents

On Writ of Certiorari to the Supreme Court 
of the State of Texas

MOTION FOR LEAVE TO FILE BRIEF 
AS AMICUS CURIAE

To the Honorable, the Chief Justice of the United States 
and the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the 
United States:

The undersigned, as counsel for and on behalf of the 
Texas Council of Negro Organizations, respectfully move 
that this Honorable Court grant them leave to file the ac­
companying brief as amicus curiae. The Texas Council of 
Negro Organizations is made up of forty-five state-wide 
organizations, fraternal, political, religious, educational, or



social,' and has as its principal purposes "to serve as a clear­
ing house of information and opinion on Negro life and 
interracial affairs in Texas, to sensitize the Negro people 
of Texas to the rights and responsibilities of worthy citizen­
ship in a democratic society of free men, and to make au­
thorized representation of social, economic, political and 
educational issues affecting the well-being of the Negro 
people of Texas.”

Current social and economic data, relevant to this Court’s 
determination of the reasonableness of the classification at 
issue, is available, and has not been brought to the atten­
tion of the Court by either the parties to this cause or other 
amici curiae. In order that such data will be available to the 
Court, the Texas Council of Negro Organizations respect­
fully requests leave to file the accompanying brief.

The Council makes this request, believing that the de­
cision by this Court in the case at bar will largely influence 
the rate of progress which millions of American Negro 
citizens will make in achieving their aspirations of first- 
class citizenship through equality of educational oppor­
tunity, and being cognizant of the fact that the decision 
herein will determine the right of members of affiliated or­
ganizations and their sons and daughters to attain the edu­
cational advantages to which they believe themselves en­
titled as citizens of the United States.

Consent of the attorney for petitioner to the filing of 1

1 A list of the constituent organizations is set forth in Appen­
dix A.

2



this brief has been obtained.2 Consent of the attorney for 
respondent was requested on December 22, 1949, but no 
reply to such request has as yet been received. W e are to­
day submitting copies of this motion and brief to attorney 
for respondent and renewing our previous request that he 
consent to the filing. Such consent, when received, will be 
promptly submitted to the Court. In the event such consent 
is not received, we respectfully pray that leave to file this 
brief be granted notwithstanding. Cf U. S. Supreme Court

MULLINAX, WELLS AND BALL 
of Counsel 

1716 Jackson Street 
Dallas, Texas.
February 17, 1950

STATE OF TEXAS )
COUNTY OF DALLAS J

Before me, the undersigned authority, on this day ap­
peared L. N. D. Wells, Jr., who being duly sworn, deposed 
and said that on this 17th day of February, 1950, copies 
of this motion and the attached brief were served by reg­

Rule 27, par. 9 (c).

Marion C. Ladwig
Counsel for Amicus Curiae

3



istered mail, return receipt requested, upon the Honorable 
Price Daniel, Attorney General of Texas, Capitol Building, 
Austin, Texas, counsel for respondent herein, and upon the 
Honorable Thurgood Marshall, 20 West 40th Street, New 
York 18, New York, counsel for petitioner. 2

2 A copy of petitioner’s consent is appended hereto as Appen­
dix B.

Su san  Gates M orrow 
Notary Public in and for 
Dallas County, Texas

4



IN THE

SUPREM E COURT OF THE UNITED S T A T E S

October Term, 1949

NO. 667

HEMAN MARION SWEATT,
Petitioner,

vs.

THEOPHILIS SHICKEL PAINTER, ET AL.,
Respondents

On Writ of Certiorari to the Supreme Court 
of the State of Texas

BRIEF FOR THE

TEXAS COUNCIL OF NEGRO ORGANIZATIONS
as Amicus Curiae

OPINIONS BELOW AND JURISDICTION

The opinions below and jurisdictional statements are set 
out in full in the brief for the petitioner.

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

The petitioner, Heman Marion Sweatt, upon applying 
for admission to the University of Texas Law School ap-

5



proximately four years ago, was denied admission solely 
because of his race (R 445). Sweatt then brought a man­
damus action in a State District Court to compel the State 
University to admit him as a qualified student. This relief 
was denied in three separate hearings in the District Court, 
and also by the Texas Court of Civil Appeals, and the Su­
preme Court of Texas; each of these courts holding that 
denial of admission to State University graduate schools to 
Negro citizens was not violative of the Negro citizen’s 
rights to equal protection of the laws nor of his rights 
under the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of 
the United States, so long as "separate but substantially 
equivalent” educational facilities were afforded on a basis 
of race segregation.

That the Texas Courts erred in holding that the educa­
tional facilities offered petitioner were "substantially 
equivalent” to those afforded non-Negro citizens is plain 
from this record. Inasmuch as this point is so apparent from 
the undisputed facts of this case, and is fully briefed by 
petitioner and by the amicus curiae, the American Jewish 
Committee, we will not burden the Court with a restate­
ment of argument on this point.

W e shall limit our argument to the following point:

6



SUMMARY OF ARGUMENT

The "sep a ra te  but equa l" doctrine of Plessy v. 
Ferguson, 163 US 537, (upholding state racia l seg­
regation statutes) now has no justification when 
applied to public education on the un iversity 
graduate  level, and should be rejected as a v io ­
lation of the "equa l p ro tection " clause ©f the 
Fourteenth Am endm ent to the United States C on ­
stitution.

Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 US 537, decided fifty-four years 
ago, held a state statute requiring segregation of the Negro 
race to be a reasonable exercise of the state’s police power, 
and justified to preserve the "public peace and good order.” 
That case was erroneously decided in 1896, based on the 
then prevailing popular and scientific misconception that 
the Negro race was inferior, and that a commingling of 
the "superior” white race with the "inferior” Negro race 
would lead to public disorder. More than fifty years of 
learning and experience have demonstrated that no reason­
able justification exists for classification (at least for pur­
poses of public education at the graduate level) on the 
basis of race. Racial segregation in the circumstances dis­
closed by the record in this case has now been proved un­
necessary for the maintenance of public peace and good 
order. Experience in the fields of education, politics, mili­
tary service, religion, labor and business has demonstrated 
that racial segregation in graduate public education is not 
necessary or justified to preserve the public welfare.

7



ARGUMENT

When, in 1896, this Court held in Plessy v. Ferguson that 
a state statute requiring segregation of Negro citizens did 
not transgress constitutional limitations, the decision was 
placed on the sole ground that racial segregation was justi­
fied to preserve the public peace and good order. Even in 
that day, and in that very case, it was recognized that:

. . every exercise of the police power must be 
reasonable, and extend only to such laws as are 
enacted in good faith for the promotion of the 
public good, and not for the annoyance or op- 
-pression of a particular class.” (163 US 537 at 
550.)

The Supreme Court of 1896, laboring under the social 
pressures of irrational race prejudice too commonly ac­
cepted by the public at that time, and misled by the "scien­
tific” misconceptions of such distinguished scholars as 
Charles Darwin, Francis Galton, Thomas Carlyle, and 
Cesare Lombroso, all of whom affirmed the doctrine of 
Negro inferiority,' held it to be a reasonable exercise of the 
states’ police power to require racial segregation in intra­
state travel.

That Court was functioning in a climate of race preju­
dice; indeed. Mr. Justice Harlan, in his dissent vr. tear <erv 
case, points up the fact chat the rraorvo decrstct- rased 
on the proportion that race nrerc.vv.ce teg-ardsai 'ns
the supreme law of the lard At that tv.tv . re s r o a s s  cc

'  Cl, 1. If, Ttif SnA  4Nki 4mI N<(w, OhmS, New
Y.'. v. Cha.xet W .Y . racvxv V. A v .  Vs

- VS esv



sociology and anthropology were in their infancy. The 
strong glare of the light of fifty years’ experience had not 
yet demonstrated the extent to which the theory that the 
Negro was inferior to other races was wholly fallacious. 
The Negroes’ opportunity to prove how fallacious such 

theories were, was everywhere blocked. No opportunity ex­
isted to prove ability to improve occupational status.3 Fifty- 
seven percent of the Negro race was illiterate in 1890; no 

Negroes voted in the South.4 The Negroes of that day were 
commonly regarded as unfit to perform the functions of 
citizenship.5 As a recent scholar reports:6

"During the period when 'white supremacy’ was 
being established in the South there was continual 
racial conflict. Sometimes there was conflict be­
tween individual whites and Negroes; at other 
times racial conflict took the form of organized 
violence. During Reconstruction the Negroes met 
the organized violence of the whites with some 
type of collective action on their part and the 
racial conflict developed into race riots. But grad­
ually the organized resistance of the Negroes de­
creased and individual Negroes became the vic­

3 Cf. Harris and Spero, "Negro Problem,” Encyclopaedia of the 
Social Sciences XI, p. 339.

4 Simpkins, op. cit., p. 406.
5 Senator Vardaman spoke what was too commonly accepted 

in his day when he stated: ". . . it matters not what his (the 
Negro’s) advertised mental and moral qualifications may he. I am 
just as much opposed to Booker Washington as a voter, with alt 
his Anglo-Saxon re-enforcements, as I am to the cocoanut headed, 
chocolate-colored, typical little coon, Andy Dotson, who blacks my 
shoes every morning. Neither is fit to perform the supreme tunc­
tion of citizenship.” (Lewinson, Paul, Race, Class and I'aiiy, pp. 
84-85, Oxford University Press, 1932.)

6 Frazier, E. Franklin, The Negro in the United States, pp. 159- 
160, Macmillan, New York, 1949.

9



tims of the organized violence of the whites. A 
rough indication of this type of violence is pro­
vided in the statistics on Negroes lynched in the 
South. Lynchings in the South increased rapidly 
from 1882, the first year for which statistics are 
available, up to 1890 and then showed a sharp 
rise in the early nineties when the white South 
began to legalize the subordinate status of the 
Negro. (See Diagram I.) Although the majority 
of the Negro victims were lynched for homicide, 
the avowed justification for lynching was the 
raping of white women. In over 10 percent of the 
cases the alleged cause for lynching Negroes in­
cluded insulting white persons, robbery and theft, 
and a host of minor offenses. It appears that the 
lynching of Negroes was essentially an informal 
type of 'justice’ designed to 'keep the Negro in 
his place.’ Community sanction for this type of 
’justice’ was based upon the general belief that 
the Negro was a subhuman species and the fear 
that the Negro would get 'out of hand.' Lynch­
ing has been one of the fruits of the crusade to 
establish 'white supremacy.’ "

hi stem  me Negroes unfortunate status at the time of 
■Sun i i r t a s / #  was,, is reported by Simpkins:'

rererr o f rece of p n lk io l and social etfoaLrr- 
r  me a L ssa o n a i re debacle. me Negroes' si ma­
nor was- naeec utmeemmate reward me and e£ 
me Nmeesnm Cmcrrv . .  The feemme of wmre 
smrrmniBcy jg rae E xd  eccrriecer- — t—S - r r r  o ^ e : 
me AawBfacant treed of eyuairty. Ftesc aegtnnencs 
roGCsmrng me alleged r e g a b o  ef me ace  for 
m r :-  emerc -sremed re re eottfanned a  xs own 
m errai weaknesses! x '*e tr-. ndustr-m inet- 
~cr«£ie--. mine ax- ill leu. m .'

r\rru<mr~ if rrac oa exx-ased r x  Nevcce as m e r u t  ’ 
mu srngjit tr user ’w-r.ee ssrptsmac ’ on me nests n *

rvr. oc. 3-.
31



scientific fact.8 But the fallacy of these views is now too 
apparent to require exposition. A comparison of the popu­
lar and scientific appraisal of the Negro as made in the 
works cited in footnote 8 with the data and conclusions of 
more modern scholars 9 demonstrates not only the tremen­
dous strides made in the social sciences, but the utter fallacy 
of the attitudes which were extant at the time Plessy v. 

Ferguson was decided.

W e submit that what the beliefs and attitudes of 1896 
led the Court to hold to be a reasonable exercise of the 
police power for the public good, today, five and one-half 
decades later, in the light of the knowledge and experience 
of 1950, is demonstrably unreasonable and unrelated to the 
public welfare.

But not only have modern social scientists exploded the 
myth of white supremacy, the Texans’ everyday experiences 
daily demonstrate that despite compulsory segregation laws 
of the type held reasonably necessary to the public safer, 
in 1896, segregation in Texas and the South is rapidly be­

s Hoffman, F. L., Race Traits and Tendencies of tbe American 
Negro (New York), 1897; Thomas, W . H., Tbe American Negro 
(New York, 1901); Stone, A. H., Studies in the American Race 
Problem (New York), 1908); Page, T. N., Tbe Negro, Tbe South­
erners’ Problem (New York, 1904); Murphy, Problems of tbe 
Present South (New York, 1909).

9 Myrdal, Gunnar, An American Dilemma (two volumes, New 
York, 1944); Harris and Spero, ''Negro Problem,” Encyclopaedia 
of the Social Sciences, XI, pp. 335-55; Allen, J. S., The Negro 
Question in the United States (New York, 1936); Frazier, F.. 
Franklin, The Negro in the United Stales (New York, 1949).



coming as outmoded as the popular and scientific views 
which two generations ago sought to justify it.

Particularly in the last four years, since the Second World 
W ar, rapid strides have been made in interracial activities. 
A few typical examples are here presented.10 *

1.

Education

Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas have had recent experi­
ence with Negroes attending graduate schools of their re­
spective state universities on an equal and unsegregated 
basis. In September, 1949, Herman A. Barnett, a Negro 
from Lockhart, Texas, was admitted to the University of 
Texas Medical School." Barnett is presently obtaining all 
the advantages of non-segregated education; his laboratory 
partners are white students. Barnett is fully accepted by his

To the extent possible, we have attempted to present the 
current fact and opinion with respect to racial segregation in this 
area from standard works or acknowledged experts in the field. 
Due to the rapid advances, and the fact that much of such material 
is so recent as not to have yet been authoritatively published, we 
have in several instances presented affidavits from those with 
knowledge of the facts. These are included in the Appendix hereto. 
W e note that the Attorney General of Texas, in his brief on behalf 
of respondents, likewise has appended to his brief in opposition 
to granting the writ certain reports, poll results, and other data 
with respect to the current situation.

' 1 Barnett is technically enrolled in the Texas State University 
for Negroes at Houston under a contract with the University of 
Texas covering graduate instruction not offered by the Houston 
institution.

12



professors and fellow students, and has pursued his studies 
without incident.12

And in Oklahoma, Ada Lois Sipuel Fisher, the plaintiff 
in Sipuel v. Board of Regents of the University of Okla­
homa, 322 US 631, is now attending the University of Ok­
lahoma Law School. The semblance of segregation was at 
first maintained by "Reserved for Colored” signs placed 
beside the Negro student’s desk. But even this gesture to­
ward legislative insistence on segregation 13 has not de­
terred white students from acceptance of Mrs. Sipuel Fisher 
and other Negroes as any other members of the class. Those 
who hold to the philosophy on which Plessy v. Ferguson 
was based may be shocked to learn that Negroes at Okla­
homa today eat and study with white students, are housed 
on the University campus, and are accepted by fellow stu­
dents without incident; indeed, that the "Reserved for Col­
ored” signs posted by the Law School have been removed 
by white students.14

Mrs. Sipuel Fisher’s experience is not an isolated one. 
About fifty other Negro students entered various schools 
of the University at the same time, the summer term, 1949. 
Student reaction to this phenomenon has been good. By

12 See Barnett’s report attached hereto as Apuendix C, p. 28, 
infra.

is See Oklahoma statute, House Bill No. 405, approved by 
Governor on June 9, 1949, amending 70 O.S. 1941, Sec. 455-7.

i4 See Mrs. Sipuel Fisher’s report attached hereto as Appendix 
D, pp. 29, 30, infra.

13



November, 1949, when 22 Negro students were enrolled for 
the fall semester, majoring in varied subjects ranging from 
pharmacy and zoology to social work and school admin­
istration,’5 a great majority of the students indicated ap­
proval. The November 10, 1949, issue of The Oklahoma 
Daily, page 2, the student newspaper serving the University 
of Oklahoma, reports as follows:

"Seventy-six percent of the students and faculty 
members are in favor of removal of segregation 
on the campus. This is the result of a poll taken 
by the Equal Education Committee. A total of 
1,092 persons were interviewed. Every school in 
the university was contacted. Allowing for a wide 
margin of error, it can be stated that a majority 
are in favor of removing the 'reserved for col­
ored’ srgrrs . _

rdirncai commenr in me Oklahoma student paper is like- 
vise n d c i r i e ar u.w me sn cerr body reacts to the "proc- 
-em ar segregation. A eac ecircriai :r. T be Oklahoma 
— •mt namriv pracfiemci v m  scstacm oc h e  end of "Em  

’v n - kuanuna. ror:i~es :r  N eg ri jr .o e rr - a r m s  ~~- 
iru  Tism iret u  :cns: issues a: me same ic - i  , . - n r  '

ir. rnilwatei. ar Oklahoma A. and M. College, five Ne­
groes were enrolled at the fall 1949 semester. Investigation * 16 17

’5 The Oklahoma Daily, Dec. 16, 1949, p. 2.

16 During the pendency of the Sipucl case, a student poll taken 
at the University indicated only 43.6 percent of the students fav­
ored admission of Negroes. (The Oklahoma Daily, Jan. 13, 1948,
p. 1.)

17 The Oklahoma Daily, December 16, 1949, p. 2.

14



by one of the undersigned disclosed that no segregation is 
there enforced, even in the seating arrangement of the 
classes, despite the requirement of the Oklahoma statute 
cited in footnote 13, supra.

The admission of Negroes to Oklahoma graduate schools 
has significantly pointed up the rapid change of attitudes 
not only of white students, but also of the townspeople. 
Previously, the University City of Norman, Oklahoma, had 
considered it an unwritten law that no Negro could remain 
in the city after dark.18 Today Mrs. Sipuel Fisher has been 
invited, along with other students, to have dinner in the 
homes of white families in Norman.19

Similar experience is shown in Arkansas. Edith M. Irby 
was the first Negro student to enter the School of Medicine 
of Arkansas University. She reports that from the day of 
her admission, September 27, 1948, the white students were 
friendly, and at no time have given any indication that thev 
resent her presence, despite the fact that she pursues her 
course of study on a completely non-segregated basis. Miss 
Irby’s report, appended hereto as Appendix E, p. 31, infra, 
indicates a wholesome and naturally friendly relationship 
with white fellow-students.

18 The Southern Patriot, New Orleans, La., Vol. 7, No. 8. Oc­
tober, 1949.

19 See Appendix D, p. 30, infra.

15



Similar experience * 21 in Kentucky, Maryland, West Vir­
ginia, Virginia, North Carolina, as well as cited examples 
of unsegregated military experiences in the South, and other 
specific experience in Texas, led a recent writer in a lead­
ing southern journal to conclude:

"As far as I have been able to ascertain in the past 
ten or more years, there has not come to public 
attention a single instance of the elimination of 
segregation in the South which has been attended 
by any untoward results . . . These examples are 
sufficient . . .  to demonstrate that whenever and 
wherever the leaders in any community decide 
that segregation is to be eliminated and are will­
ing to stand by their decision, no untoward con­
sequences occur.”22

The same author recites examples in Texas of Negro and 
white nurses being trained in the same classes without in­
cident, of a Negro attending a technological school in 
Texas for four years, but then receiving his degree from 
the Negro college at Prairie View "because of some appre­
hension over legal technicalities which might invalidate his 
degree."23 Further, this same author reports that:

After the i ts: Sweatt trial a Negro student from

Camt-urs me xaam examples in other southern semes recked 
i t  'S n o t Pragiess in the EHminarion of Discrimination H-.cber 
i J a.-srt.-ia in the United States”, Id ] asertus} <-* A-C*v E emratim  
1 at c  (Reprinted in part as Appendix F, p. 55 ft. hrrra.)

Z1 Thompson. Charles H., "Separate But Not Equal”.
■a>est Reiicu  Southern Methodist Unix. Press, Dallas. Yol.
X X X III, No. 2, pp. 105-112.

Ibid., p. 111.

16



one of the Negro colleges in Austin went over to 
the University of Texas to borrow a book from 
the library, and as he was waiting in line to have 
his book charged, a number of students came up 
and congratulated him, thinking that he was 
Sweatt who had been admitted to the University.”

The author concludes:

"It is interesting and instructive to note that the 
reaction of students is much more progressive and 
constructive than that of their elders. In several 
instances in southern universities where student 
polls have been taken, only a few students were 
seriously opposed to having Negro classmates. 
Most of them were either favorable or indif­
ferent.”24

The justification for this conclusion insofar as the Uni­
versity of Texas student body is concerned appears in the 
latest student poll taken there in March, 1948, at which time 
61.5 percent of the women students and 54.9 percent of the 
men students were in favor of Negroes attending not only 
the Law School, but also other graduate schools.25

24 Ibid., p. 111.

z s The Daily Texan, Jan. 10, 1950, p. 1, col. 5. Cf. "Southern 
College Teachers Repudiate Jim Crow”, The Crisis, Vol. 57, No. 1, 
p. 25 ff., reporting a recent poll of 15,000 southern college teach­
ers by the Southern Conference Educational Fund, Inc., in which 
of the 3,375 who replied, 70 percent favored immediate admission 
of Negro students to graduate and professional schools without 
segregation.

17



2.

Politics

Mr. Justice Harlan, dissenting in Plessy v. Ferguson, re­
ferred to "racial prejudice” as "the supreme law of the 
land.” Insofar as political participation was concerned, this 
was all too true at the time of that decision; indeed, sub­
stantially so until after this Court’s decision in Smith v. 
Alluright. 321 US 649 (1944).26 Even after that decision, 
effort was made in parts of the South, notably South Car­
olina and a few other southern states, to devise methods of 
avoiding its effect; but as is aptly demonstrated in V. O. 
Key’s scholarly Southern Politics,27 "the response of the 
South to the Allwright decision is more significant for what 
has not occurred than for the means that have been devised 
to circumvent the Constitution.” Certainly, that is true in 
Texas. Despite dire predictions of "trouble” should the 
Negro be enfranchised in Texas, 75,000 Negroes voted in 
the 1946 Texas Democratic primary without incident.28

The Negroes’ political activity is not today limited to the 
casting of a ballot. The conservative Dallas Morning News,

26 This Court’s decisions in Nixon v. Herndon, 273 US 536 
(1927), and Nixon v. Condon, 286 US 73 (1932), and Grovey v. 
Townsend, 295 US 45 (1935), had resulted in some Negro voting 
in general elections. Key, V. O., Jr., Southern Politics, Knopf, New 
York, 1949, pp. 619 ff.

27 Ibid., p. 643.

28 D. S. Strong, "The Rise of Negro Voting in Texas”, Ameri­
can Political Science Review, 42, (1948), pp. 510-22.

18



which on frequent occasion views with editorial alarm the 
loosening of traditional race segregation patterns, in an 
article by its chief political writer within the past few 
weeks, reported on the effort of the Texas Negro to break 
down segregation, as follows:29

"One victory is already won. That is on the politi­
cal front . . . Today, Negroes not only vote in 
the Texas Democratic primaries; they also par­
ticipate in precinct, county and state conventions. 
They sit with whites. Segregation has been wiped 
out at Democratic conventions.”

Further indication of Negro political participation with­
out incident of any kind is seen in the April, 1948, election 
of a Negro business man, G. J. Sutton, to the Board of 
Trustees of the San Antonio Junior College District.30 This 
Negro leader had been sponsored by the interracial Organ­
ized Voters League, which though predominantly white, 
is headed by an equal number of Anglo, Latin, and Negro- 
Americans.

3.

Other Areas of Crumbling Segregation Barriers

W e have demonstrated that integration of the races is 
already occurring in Texas to some degree, and that in the 
fields of education and politics such integration has not

29 Dallas Morning News, February 2, 1950, Sec, 111, p. 4, The 
entire article is reprinted infra as Appendix C», pp. 59, IT.

30 San Antonio Register, April 9, I948, p I



been attended by any untoward result. The same is true in 
other fields of social, religious and economic integration.

Texas Labor has recently taken a strong stand against 
segregation. The Texas Scare Federation of Labor, ALL, at
its I94S convention, unanimously resolved:

T e a t ir be mandatory upon each city seeking and 
acntrr.-g future conventions of the Texas State 
Fereranctt of Labor to provide for a suitable 
meed ag  or conversion ha?'; where there shall be
r c  f-s.---- r-arbor between race, color, or creed
r t  ieaturx and servicing future delegates to Fed­
eration  conventions . . -”31

Toe Texas State Industrial Union Council, CIO, follows 
the same practice.

And in everyday business life the Negro in Texas in 1950 
daily rubs shoulders with Anglo and Latin-Americans in 
Texas. The President’s executive order 9980 governing fair 
employment practices within the federal establishment ef­
fectively prohibits "discrimination because of race, color, 
religion, or national origin” in federal employment in 
Texas as well as throughout the nation.32 Pursuant thereto, 
Negroes work with whites in the federal service. In Dallas, 
Houston, and other Texas cities, Negro mail carriers and 
clerks work with whites.33 Negro police protect life and

31 Proceedings, Texas State Federation of Labor, 50th Conven­
tion, 1948, Fort Worth, Texas, June 21-June 24, pp. 210-211.

32 13 Federal Register 4311, July 26, 1948.

33 Cf. order of the Postmaster General, "Procedure relative to 
fair employment practices”, The Postal Bulletin, Sept. 20, 1949.

20



property in many Texas cities. And in the United States Air 
Force, which has large installations in Texas, integration 
of the races has been effectively accomplished. For example, 
at the Lackland Base at San Antonio, Texas, where some 
26,000 Air Force personnel are stationed, the New York  
Times reports:34

"All the recruits at vast Lackland Base here, the 
largest in the whole Air Force, live, eat and study 
as a body and the grouping together of Negro 
and white personnel has not caused any incidents. 
" 'The integration of the base was accomplished 
with complete harmony,’ General Lawrence {M a­
jor General Charles W . Lawrence, Commanding 
General of the Indoctrination Division of the 
Air Force Training Command} stated, 'Order 
went through to completely end segregation 
among trainees on a certain date and when that 
date arrived the segregation ended. No un­
pleasant incidents resulted, and the white boys 
and the Negro boys in the training are getting 
on well together.’ ”

Lackland Air Base is not an isolated example. At many mili­
tary establishments throughout the state, the same condi­
tions prevail.

Finally, religious groups are making great strides in in­
tegration of religious activities of Negro and white Texans. 
As an example of such strides, the Executive Secretary of 
the Texas Methodist Student Movement, in a report ap­
pended hereto,35 relates in detail the activities of over fifty 
local campus groups in the field of interracial religious 
activity. *

*4 New York Times, September 18, 1949, p. 53, Sec. L. 
as Report of Rev. Paul Deats, Jr., Appendix H, p. 40, infra.

21



CONCLUSION

First-class citizenship for Negroes is an impossibility 
until this Court recognizes that the rule of Plessy v. Fergu­
son is an anachronism which cannot stand before the Four­
teenth Amendment.

Despite the facts that the rule of that case has necessarily 
magnified the social inertia and the prejudice which is the 
patrim ony of many white Texans, and that under the rule 
of that case normal and natural associations of free peoples 
have been declared unlawful, great strides in racial integra­
tion are now evident.

The social patterns in Texas and the South today are a 
far cry from the conditions which brought forth Plessy i . 
Fergustm. Now, cot only have social scientists scotched the 
—vhi of white supremacy, but Texans in everyday contacts 
recDsmze ~ar the Negro is entitled to a place of dignity in 
a e v e r —a - If cte Constitution does not, as Mr. Justice 
M trrcv st-tgescsi _c his concurring opinion in O w * . t 
CaerT/KBsk.3* ' render irrational as a justification for dis- 
crimtaaDon those factors which reflect racial animosity," 
the social scientist and the daily experiences of Texans have 
done so.

W e are confident that this Court will consider the "rea­
sonableness” of the exercise of Texas’ police power in the 
light of current economic and sociological conditions.36 37

36 332 US 633 at 663.
37 Cf. West Coast Hotel v. Parrish, 300 US 379.

22



There appearing no reasonable basis for enforced segre­
gation on the basis of race at the graduate school level; and 
to the contrary, it appearing that such segregation deprives 
Negroes of basic rights guaranteed by the Constitution, we

petitioner’s right to full and unsegregated educational op­
portunity should be reversed. The record in this case, the 
judgment of social scientists, and the daily experience of 
Texans make it quite apparent that Texans are prepared 
for such a decision.

Counsel for Amicus Curiae

M ullinax , W ells and B all 
of Counsel,

1716 Jackson Street 
Dallas, Texas 
February 17, 1950

respectfully submit that the Texas Court’s denial of the

28





APPENDIX A

List of State-Wide Affiliates of the Texas Council of 
Negro Organizations

Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of Texas.
Baptist Ministers Conference of the B. M. & E. Conven­

tion.
Baptist Missionary and Educational Convention of Texas. 
Colored Teachers State Association of Texas.
Democratic Progressive Voters League of Texas.
Free and Accepted Masons of Texas.
Gulf State Dental Association.
Grand Court Order of Calanthe, Jurisdiction of Texas. 
Grand Lodge, Knights of Pythias, Jurisdiction of Texas. 
Heroines of Jericho, Texas Jurisdiction.
Independent Funeral Directors Association of Texas.
Lacy Kirk Williams Ministers’ Institute.
Lone Star Medical Association.
National Boule, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority (Texas Ju­

risdiction) .
National Council, Knights of Peter Claver (Texas Jurisdic­

tion).
Negro Agricultural Workers’ Association of Texas.
Order of the Eastern Star (Free and Accepted Masons of 

Texas).
Southwest Bar Association, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Ar­

kansas and Louisiana, (Texas Jurisdiction).
Southwestern Athletic Conference.
State Beauticians Association of Texas.
State Congress of Parent-Teachers Association of Texas. 
State Sunday School and B. T. U. Congress, B. M. & E. 

Convention of Texas.
Texas Baptist State Sunday School and B. T. U. Congress, 

Texas Baptist Convention.
25



Texas Association of Colored Graduate Nurses.
Texas Baptist Convention.
Texas Baptist State Ministers’ Institute.
Texas Commission on Democracy in Education.
Texas Commission on Participation of Negroes in Local, 

State and Federal Agencies.
Texas Conference of NAACP Branches of Texas.
Texas Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs.
Texas Federation of Colored Girls.
Texas Negro Barbers Association.
Texas Negro Burial Association.
Texas Negro Chamber of Commerce.
Texas Negro Press Association.
Texas State Association, IBPOE.
Texas State Congress of Federated Civic and Social Clubs. 
Texas Youth Conference, NAACP.
Texas Veterans Counsellors-Coordinators Association.
The Insurance Association of Texas.
The Texas Church Ushers Convention.
Women’s Auxiliary, B. M. & E. Convention of Texas. 
Women’s Auxiliary, Gulf State Dental Association. 
Women’s Auxiliary, Lone Star Medical Association. 
Women’s Auxiliary, Texas Baptist Convention.

26



APPENDIX B

Consent of Petitioner for Filing 

Amicus Curiae Brief 

In the

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES

NO. 667

The undersigned, as counsel for the Petitioner herein, 
does hereby give this written consent to the Texas Council 
of Negro Organizations, to file a brief as amicus curiae 
in the above numbered and entitled cause, in accordance 
with Rule 27, subdivision 9, of the rules of this court.

Consent for Filing 
Amicus Curiae Brief

/s /  W. J. Durham 
W. J. Durham 

Counsel for Petitioner

27



APPENDIX C

STATE OF TEXAS \
COUNTY OF GALVESTON \ AFFIDAVIT

I am Herman A. Barnett, a Negro from Lockhart, Texas, 
I am now a medical student at the University of Texas 
Medical Branch at Galveston, Texas. Even though I am 
the only Negro student enrolled in this medical school, 
I have had no unpleasant experiences during any of my 
contacts with either the other students or the faculty.

From the very first day I was accepted as just another 
student. I met most of the members of the freshman class 
during the first day of orientation. Also on the first day, 
several of the students invited me to work with them as 
a laboratory partner, and one of the upper classmen invited 
me out to his home to participate with several other fresh­
men in a study group which he was leading.

Because of the way in which I have been received by the 
personnel of the University of Texas Medical School, I 
am able to devote all my time and energy to the study of 
medicine without any fear of ill-will or rebuke.

/s/ Herman A. B arnett

Sworn to and subscribed before me this 14th day of Feb­
ruary. 1950. in the city of Galveston, Texas.

/s  Thomas D. Armstrong 
T homas D. Armstrong 
Notary Public in and for 
Galveston County. Texas

Report of the First Negro Student to Enter the
Medical School, University of Texas

28



APPENDIX D

STATE OF OKLAHOMA )
COUNTY OF GRADY $ AFFIDAVIT

My name is Ada Lois Sipuel Fisher. I was the plaintiff 
in the Sipuel v. Oklahoma University case, and am now a 
student in the School of Law at the University of Okla­
homa.

After the Oklahoma Legislature passed a law allowing 
Negroes to attend, on a segregated basis, certain Oklahoma 
institutions of higher learning, about 50 other Negro stu­
dents and I entered the University at Norman in June, 1949. 
I was the only one to enroll in the law school.

In spite of the provisions in the state statutes that we 
be provided separate classrooms and instructors, I attended 
classes with all the other entering freshmen. The semblance 
of segregation was maintained by "Reserved for Colored” 
signs placed beside my desk. These signs did not keep my 
classmates from coming back to talk with me and exchang­
ing class notes. Gradually, the students took down the signs. 
From the first, my classmates were friendly. Now I am 
accepted as any other member of the class.

The only source of embarrassment, both to me and my 
classmates, has been the requirement of segregation. In 
spite of this requirement, however, we study together in 
the library, and on the lawn under the trees, have "bull 
sessions” in the halls and on the steps of the law school, 
and use the same drinking fountains and rest rooms. There

Report of First Negro Student to Enter the
Law School, University of Oklahoma

29



is no segregation whatever in our class meetings and activi­
ties. This fall the summer freshmen endeavored to get me 
elected as class treasurer, but the fall freshmen outnum­
bered us and took all the class offices. I lost by about 10 
votes.

The other Negro students and I eat in the Union "Jug” 
at a table reserved for us at the back. All during the day, 
other students either sit at our table or pull their tables near 
ours in order that we can talk while having coffee.

Not only am I accepted in the School of Law, but I have 
been treated very kindly by white families in Norman wrho 
have invited other Negro students and me to their homes 
for dinner.

I am happy finally to be enrolled in the State Univer­
sity, both because it is a good school and because it is 
located near my home, consequently less expensive for me 
to attend.

Ada Lois S ipu el  Fish er

Sworn to and subscribed before me this 17th day o f Feb­
ruary. 1950. in the city of Chickasha. Oklahoma.
Oklahoma.

Bertha C  Fletcher 
Notary Public

30



APPENDIX E

TO WHOM IT M AY CONCERN:

Being the first Negro student admitted to the School of 
Medicine of Arkansas University, the other students seem 
to have gone out of their way to make me feel that I am 
welcomed. On the very first day, September 27, 1948, all 
three of the white girls and about a third of the white boys 
who also were entering as freshmen, made it a special point 
to meet me. I remember the seating arrangement at our 
very first class: one of the white boys was sitting to my 
left, and one of the girls to my right. From then on, I 
have had no fear that the students would resent my pres­
ence.

Here at the Medical School, we have had no problem 
with the matter of segregation, like my friend, Jackie Shrop­
shire, had when he entered the Law School at the University 
in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Here there was no attempt to 
"fence in” my desk, as they did his for the first few days, 
before his fellow students tore down the railing.

Since we do not have any study halls in the Medical 
School, we usually study in each other’s apartments. The 
three other girls, all residents of Arkansas, have become 
very close friends of mine. Several of the fellows and I 
often during the day go to one of the girl’s apartment near 
the school to discuss and study our lessons. About every 
other evening, after classes, (wo of the girls and I go by 
the grocery store, and take food to my apartment or to

Report of First Negro Student to Enter the
Medical School, University of Arkansas

*t I • t I



one of theirs, where we prepare our evening meal before 
studying together late into the night.

At noon, those of us who take our lunches eat together 
in one of the rooms at the school. Oftentimes, after classes, 
I go with several of the students to "drive-in” cafes to eat.

I have met so many fine people, here in Little Rock and 
at the Merical School, that I have been having a good time. 
Not a single person has been unkind to me.

/ s /  Edith M. Irby 
Edith M. Irby

Subscribed and sworn to before me, in the City of Little 
Rock, Arkansas, on February 10, 1950.

{Seal}

/s /  Anna J ean Jones 
Notary Public

32



APPENDIX F

Excerpt from the Journal of Negro Education

Vol. X IX , No. 1, Page 4, Winter, 1950
EDITORIAL COMMENT

SOME PROGRESS IN THE ELIMINATION OF 
DISCRIMINATION IN HIGHER EDUCATION  

IN THE UNITED STATES

Elimination of Secregation at the University Level 
in the South

Probably the most encouraging step which has been taken 
in this area has been the admission of Negroes to several 
Southern state-supported graduate and professional schools 
which hitherto excluded them because of their race. And 
what is more important, there has not been reported a 
single untoward incident of any kind as a result of the 
change. Prior to the school year 1947-48, only two state- 
supported universities in the South had admitted a Negro 
student for more than 50 years. The law school of the 
University of Maryland admitted a Negro student in 1935, 
and around ten years ago the State University of West 
Virginia began to admit Negro students to its graduate 
and professional curricula. In each case the experiment 
proved successful beyond anyone’s expectations, and Ne­
groes have since become a normal part of the student popu­
lation.

More recently, state-suported universities in five Southern 
states have admitted Negroes to various schools and col­
leges. (1) The University of Arkansas in 1947-48 admitted 
a Negro to its law school on a segregated basis. The next

38



year the University admitted a Negro girl to its medical 
school on a non-segregated basis, and eliminated the seg­
regation initially imposed in the law school. (2) The Uni­
versity of Delaware announced in 1948 that it had revised 
its policies so as to permit the admission of Negro students 
to any curricula available at the University which were not 
available at the Negro college at Dover. A dozen or more 
Negroes attended the University last summer and several 
are at present enrolled. (3) The University of Oklahoma, 
under a directive of the Board of Regents, admitted a Ne­
gro student on a segregated basis to its graduate school in 
1948. A little later Negro students were enrolled in some 
of the professional schools on a non-segregated basis. (The 
case of the student admitted on a segregated basis is now 
before the U. S. Supreme Court to determine the consti­
tutional validity of the practice.)7 (4) The University of 
Kentucky admitted Negro students to its graduate school 
last year for the first time, enrolled a sizeable number in 
its summer session, and has several enrolled at the present 
time. (5) The University of Texas this year admitted a 
Negro to its medical school courses at Galveston, but re­
quired him to register as a student in the Texas State Uni­
versity for Negroes in Houston.

The instances cited here all involve state-supported uni­
versities in the South which hitherto had excluded Negroes. 
In all, state universities in some seven Southern and border 
states now admit Negro students to various schools and 
colleges within their university organizations. It might be 
noted in passing that some of the privately-controlled uni­
versities and colleges in Missouri, North Carolina, Virginia

7 See: McLaurin v. Board of Regents of the University of Okla­
homa, et al.

34



and the District of Columbia also admit Negroes; thus 
increasing the number of states in this category to ten and 
the District of Columbia. In addition to the fact that the 
number of such instances is increasing, the important point 
to be noted here is not why these institutions have changed 
their admission policies and practices, but rather that, hav­
ing changed them, none of the dire predictions which were 
made before-hand has materialized. As a professor at the 
University of Kentucky observed:8 "University of Kentucky 
tried Plan A this summer. Worked out O.K. as far as I 
learned. The sky did not fall, neither did any of the build­
ings fall down, nor did any of the students get contami­
nated.”

Speaking of the attitudes of professors in Southern uni­
versities and colleges, attention is called to a poll which 
has just been completed by the Southern Conference Edu­
cational Fund and printed in this number of the Journal.9 
More than two-thirds (68% ) of the teachers in state and 
privately supported white higher institutions in the South 
favor the immediate abolition of segregation on the gradu­
ate and professional level. And, I might add, that the atti­
tudes of white students in these institutions are even more 
favorable.

* *  aee-rivr. / •/. •»* c-.rzs.r x i  <A the Journal.



APPENDIX G

NEGRO ATTACK ON SEGREGATION
By Allen Duckworth

Last year, in speaking to Negro graduates of the new 
state university at Houston, the late Beauford H. Jester 
said:

"Heaven is not reached in a single bound.”

Yet, as far as the Texas Negro may be from Heaven, he 
has taken some long bounds in the last six years. These 
bounds have been longer than the average Negro, or the 
average white, probably realizes.

The effort of the Texas Negro to break down segrega­
tion can be divided into three phases— political equality, 
educational equality and social equality.

Strong support bv legal talent from the East, especially 
through the National Association for Advancement of Col­
ored People, is behind the 5-pronged campaign.

One victor' already is w on. That is on the political front.

Until 1944, the Negro in the South was classed with 
Republican politics. It w as Abraham Lincoln, the Republi­
can, who gave the Negro his freedom. By tradition, the 
Democratic party of the South was the party of the w-hite 
man. And the Democratic primary elections were limited 
to whites.

Article Printed in The Dallas Morning News
February 2, 1950

36



The United States Supreme Court, controlled by Roose­
velt appointees, ruled in 1944 that Negroes must be ad­
mitted to Democratic primaries. That reversed the Negro 
political fealty in Dixie. For he was not unappreciative 
of what the Democratic party under Roosevelt was doing. 
Had not the Democratic party done what the Republicans 
had merely talked about? This appreciation was evident 
shortly after the Supreme Court ruling. Dallas Negroes 
raised money for the Roosevelt-Truman Texas campaign.

Today, Negroes not only vote in Texas Democratic 
primaries; they also participate in precinct, county and 
state conventions. They sit with whites. Segregation has 
been wiped out at Democratic conventions. Conservative 
delegates from Dallas and several other counties were 
kicked out of the convention at Fort Worth in September, 
1948. As the conservatives walked out, they saw dozens 
of Negroes filing in to take the seats they had just vacated. 
The Negro had come a long way. It couldn’t have happened 
four years before.

Two years after the Negro won political equality, he 
turned to educational equality.

Heman Marion Sweatt entered as the main figure on that 
scene. Sweatt wanted to enroll in the University of Texas 
law school. When denied that right. Sweatt sued.

D ucact Jm t Moy G  A xthef o f Austin held that the State 
of Texai ~ ( ! )  p iov;de separate but equal ‘A -/t‘ionai
rp p T iM itirt nr (T) urotov
set for v'tutet

. ®  v.*«- - y *-,/} ettabl.-
* jecar.sz.-t :v  ‘ Homton Tf><- miHM



sity is now a going concern, with more than 2,000 Negroes 
studying there.

In order to meet requirements for Sweatt, the university 
set up a temporary and separate law school near the Capitol 
grounds in Austin.

Sweatt did not enroll at either the Houston university' 
nor at the branch law school at Austin.

His reason became obvious in later trials and appeals 
of his lawsuit.

Atty. Gen. Price Daniel attempted to show in the court­
room ihar it was not the purpose of Sweatt and his attor­
neys (from the National Association for Advancement of 
Colored People) to get Sweatt an education alone. They 
wanted Sweatt in a white university. Daniel argued. The 
Daniel atcurrent was u rce ii in Swean's own testimony.

said tie w o d d  r e t  errer a separate school for
\ t g i m .  com  Anagh it m p r  tie adjudged equal to the 
— -  Uk v h w t  of  Texas law school.

T  don't tie_eve m segregation." Sweatt said.

Ttie N e t t :  irttgatioc or. education is tied closely to the 
third tdase : :  toe XAACP campaign— the drive for soda: 
ecuahr*. as witness Sweatt'> own statement on segregation.

latest on the inrlsegiegation suits involves not politics, 
rot education, hut recreation. Negroes now are demanding 
ecrau fjk-.htirs a: state parks. The legal argument of the 

Negroes > re .vg ' red b\ the State Parks Board. The hoard

SS



has ordered state parks closed this year unless means can 
be found to accommodate Negroes.

Just how a state park could give Negroes "equal” accom­
modations is a puzzle. For instance, along the Frio River 
in Garner State Park, whites now camp, swim and fish. 
A Negro could argue that it would not be "equal” for him 
to camp upstream. No matter where you put the Negro 
in Garner Park, he could claim that he did not an equal 
view of the mountains, or of the river, nor did he have 
the same access to the recreation centers, such as the dance 
terrace.

Negroes also are shooting for equality on the municipal 
golf links at Houston. They want equal rights in golfing.

The NAACP lawyers follow a smart path. They believe 
they can make segregation too expensive. By potshotting 
on specialized schools, they are bringing the cost of segre­
gation to the front. For instance, if they decide to demand 
enrollment of a single Negro for a course in mining, the 
University of Texas might have to admit that Negro at 
the El Paso branch or build an entirely separate plant for 
him. In order to set up a segregated mining school, the 
Negro lawyers estimate, the university would have to spend 
S5J0OO.OOO. And that’s a lot of dollars for one student.

The Supreme Court of the United States is due to hear 
S-*ezrt case arguments in a few days. The NAACP is bank-
:r_g or. tbtt dec;t:or.. h h the key to their fight against 
ve§pegpt>:x. of fc'.y 'end ;r. Texas awl the South.

Here a the statement of the NAACP itself: "When and 
if the Sweatt case h won, from that moment on segregation 
will begin to crumble/’

39



APPENDIX H

TEXAS METHODIST STUDENT MOVEMENT 
2403 Guadalupe Street 

Austin, Texas 
February 12, 1950

Report on Interracial A cthities

The Texas Methodist Student Movement, with contacts 
in over fifty local campus groups, has been interested in 
interracial work for several years. This is partly due to a 
real concern e c  the part of white students and leaders for 
the cdhgrocs welfare of students in Negro colleges. It is 
also a tescvTGse :o the actkwi of the last General Conference 
o' The V-otoecLts: Church, calling on Methodists to work 
.vv»a.-h :m  ; ...-o.o,ar.oo of segregation in their church meet­
ings.

This work has been most evident in the annual Thanks- 
C ' ng Conferences held by the movement, beginning in 
Denton in 1944, when one of the leaders was a Negro 
minister and educator. In 1945 the conference was held 
in Corsicana, again with one Negro speaker and this time 
with four or five Negro students attending sessions and 
eating with the white students. Since this time, provisions 
have been made for each conference to be held interra- 
cially; however, no Negro delegates attended the 1946 con­
ference at Hillsboro. The 1947 conference was held in Aus­
tin, with over twenty Negro delegates from two colleges 
in attendance. Some students were housed interracially. all 
delegates ate together in a public "white” cafeteria, and 
sessions were held in the campus church. In 1948 one Negro 
speaker and three Negro students attended the conference

40



in College Station. The 1949 conference, held in Mineral 
Wells, included fourteen Negro students and faculty mem­
bers, plus an outstanding Negro speaker. This conference 
was fed in a public dining room.

There have been several smaller institutes (week-end 
training schools) held in the last few years on an inter­
racial basis. Students have indicated their interest in hold­
ing interracial conferences by setting aside §150 of their 
state benevolent budget of §2200 to help with expenses 
of Negro delegates.

The South Central Regional Leadership Training Con­
ference for Methodist students has been held for several 
years on an interracial basis; it has been invited to hold 
its Tune. 1950, session in Dallas on the same basis.

Tor at least a decade in Austin there has been a coopera­
tive provrHtr involving students from Samuel Houston and 
Tilionoo fNegro Colleges) and from the University of 
Text* "Y  and church groups. Events have included the 
errta.' R aa Reisskua Sunday observance (often with an 
in errah ii rhncr . supper and evening meetings for dis­
tinguished Negro and white visitors, and leadership pro­
jects. The Presbyterian student group at the University of 
Texas organized and met with a similar group at Tillotson. 
Negro students and townspeople have been welcomed at 
white church services and concerts for a number of years.

/s/ Paul D eats, J r,
Executive Secretary

41