First Class Citizenship is Our Aim

    PRESS RELEASE @ ® 

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

ARTHUR B, SPINGARN o> THURGOOD MARSHALL 
President Director and Counsel 

WALTER WHITE ROBERT L. CARTER 
Secretary Assistant Counsel 

ALLAN KNIGHT CHALMERS. ARNOLD De MILLE 
Treasurer Press Relations 

FOR RELEASE: APRIL 20, 1955 

NOTE TO EDITOR: This is the third of a series of weekly articles 
written by outstanding leaders in the fields of 
education, religion, labor, business and the pro- 
fessions in support of the NAACP Legal Defense and 
Educational Fund special fund-raising campaign now 
being conducted in cooperation with the National 
Newspaper Publishers Association member newspapers. 

FIRST CLASS CITIZENSHIP IS OUR AIM 

By Cordelia Greene Johnson 
President, National Beauty Culturist's League, Inc. 

President, Jersey City Branch, NAACP 

When on May 17, 1955 the Supreme Court unanimously outlawed 

racial segregation in public schools, the 13th and ilth Amendments 

to the Constitution breathed new life. Hope for children learning 

together became a reality, It meant that children will grow to 

understand and appreciate each other and will realize that each 

has a contribution to make to his country. Public education became 

the concern of the national government, 

This decision settled the constitutionality of racial segre- 

gation in public schools. Public education matters can no longer 

be decided by prejudice, Although rejection has come from sections 

of the country; the fact remains that the law has been placed on 

the statute books as a force toward first class citizenship. 

NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund attorneys must be 

credited with this accomplishment, in humanizing the public educa- 

tion law, Directed by the eminent Thurgood Marshall, their work 

was successful, They recognized that with the law, children would 

be offered better educational opportunities, 

But, when the Supreme Court put over until the 1954-1955 term 

the decrees to effectuate its decision, Legal Defense knew the 

fight was not won, 

This waiting period, regarding the rights of Negroes in 

America, seems to be the pattern existing in the minds of many 

white Americans, It has been the accepted procedure for dealing 



Hoe ® & 

with racial bias. Yet, one realizes that the psychological fac- 

tors in prejudice must be changed through education and laws, 

When the May 17th opinion was handed down, segregation in 

public'acskools was required by law in 17 states and the District 

of Columbia. This points to the difficulties that would be 

involved in erasing a pattern of prejudice covering 0%--more than 

2,530,000--public school children in the United States, The 

judiciary and the people must cooperate in such an important sit- 

uation. We must understand that without law opportunity cannot 

come; but without people of good will, the law cannot correct the 

evils of discrimination, 

The months that have followed the Supreme Court's May 17th 

decision have indicated that laws and people are complementary. 

There has echoed from sections of this country doctrines of states! 

rights, In many areas there seems to have been an unreadiness of 

the community mind to practice the brotherhood of man. 

We are aware that the dual system in public education is 

strongly entrenched in the lives of people in some areas, We 

understand that mores and customs are resistive to change. We 

appreciate the need for education in human relations. But, one 

finds it difficult to accept hostility engendered in the minds 

of children, 

Without Legal Defense in the vanguard, this waiting period 

could have been a frustrated period of trouble within our coun- 

try. Legal Defense attorneys have been steadily working toward 

effecting integration in local communities, Vital in the 

establishment of full citizenship for the Negro in America, Legal 

Defense attorneys must have the support of all. 

The focus of NAACP Legal Defense towards first class citi- 

zenship for all Negro Americans has brought change through 

litigation. They have accomplished the right of Negroes to 

vote in white primaries in the South, equal salaries for Negro 

teachers, established the right of Negroes to travel in inter- 

state commerce free from state discrimination laws, helped to 

secure fair and equal trials for Negroes in criminal cases, 

outlawing of restrictive covenants barring Negroes from white 

neighborhoods and have pending cases attacking segregation in 



housing and recreational facilities, The record of these accom- 

-3- 

plishmen should invite us to support the goals of NAACP Legal 

Defense, Theirs is a simple formula of the application of prin- 

ciples of the brotherhood of man, It seems to me that no 

American can afford not to support this organization, Certainly 

every Negro in America has the obligation to support these archi- 

tects of first-class citizenship. 

Because I believe that every citizen in our country has the 

right for full citizenship, I am suggesting that we do our part. 

One cannot deny that the NAACP Legal Defense attorneys have accom- 

plished good for our entire country. Accepting that laws and 

people are complementary, we must join this effort. 

As we move to effectuate the decree in this decision, we 

will need to join hands around our country with NAACP Legal 

Defense and herald the acceptance of first~class citizenship 

through our land, 

Send your contributions to NAACP Legal Defense and Educational 

Fund, 107 West 3rd Street, New York 36, New York, 

=30e