New Jersey School Desegregation Case Seen as Major Breakthrough
Press Release
June 25, 1971

Cite this item
-
Press Releases, Volume 6. New Jersey School Desegregation Case Seen as Major Breakthrough, 1971. 3f29c488-ba92-ee11-be37-00224827e97b. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/daf08d57-aff2-435f-8d7c-9bfb1fd1a766/new-jersey-school-desegregation-case-seen-as-major-breakthrough. Accessed July 01, 2025.
Copied!
74 PressRelease Bt ime am June 25, 1971 For Immediate Release NEW JERSEY SCHOOL DESEGREGATION CASE SEEN AS MAJOR BREAKTHROUGH New York, New York --- On June 24, 1971, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled in an NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund school desegregation case from Morristown, New Jersey, that the New Jersey Commissioner of Education has the power to combine school districts if that is necessary to prevent racial imbalance and unequal educational opportunity. Jack Greenberg, Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF), today (6/25) hailed that decision as a major breakthrough. In the case, black citizens from Morristown, New Jersey, assisted by LDF, sought to have the New Jersey Commissioner of Education prevent the operation of separate school districts by Morristown and suburban, nearly all-white Morris Township, because black students would then be concentrated and segregated within the Morristown district. The Commissioner agreed that the operation of separate school districts would indeed result in segregation, accelerate white flight from the town to the township, and undermine the town's ability to provide adequate educational facilities for its school children. However, relief was denied because the Commissioner felt he lacked the power to cross political boundary lines for the purpose of achieving educational equality. The New Jersey Supreme Court found otherwise. Mr. Greenberg pointed out that his organization is also involved is cases raising similar issues pending in the United States Supreme Court (fr scotland Neck, N.C. and Emporia, Va.) and in the United States District Court at Richmond, Va. (MORE) NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc. | 10 Columbus Circle | New York, N.Y. 10019 | (212) 586-8397 William T. Coleman, Jr. - President Jack Greenberg - Director-Counsel NEW JERSEY SCHOOL PAGE TWO Other lawsuits, challenging the use of boundary lines between different school districts to block desegregation of the schools in both Northern and Southern states, are being prepared by the civil rights group. The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund -- no longer connected with its founding organization, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People -- has brought almost every major school desegregation suit. These include, but are not limited to the 1954 Brown case, which began the tedious road toward effective school desegregation, and the 1971 Charlotte- Mecklenburg case, which ordered the use of busing and non-contiguous pairing of schools to achieve desegregation. The Morristown case was brought by MacKenzie and Harding, Morristown attorneys, who received the assistance of the LDF staff. The Morristown Board of Education also supported the suit. =30= For further information in New York: Norman Chachkin or Sandy O'Gorman (212) 586-8397 NOTE: Statement by Jack Greenberg attached. June 25, 1971 Statement by Jack Greenberg, Director-Counsel NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., (LDF) Re: Morristown, New Jersey School Desegregation Case Decided by New Jersey Supreme Court on June 24, 1971 "The Morristown school case, just decided by the New Jersey Supreme Court, is one of the most significant NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund victories in our effort to break through political boundary lines which have kept black children pinned to inner city schools for so long. "The court has affirmed the authority of New Jersey's Commissioner of Education to combine school districts, where necessary, to eliminate racial imbalance and thus provide equal educational opportunities for all children. "LDF has similar cases now pending before the United States Supreme Court, one involving Scotland Neck, N.C.; the other, Emporia, Va. A Richmond, Va. case is pending in U.S. District Court and will be heard this summer. Additional cases, both Northern and Southern, are being prepared. "The only way that effective desegregation can be achieved in many situations is to consider central city and suburban communities as a single educational unit." =a0—