Admit Negro Studetns, U. of Alabama Told

    “PRESS RELEASE ® ® 

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

ARTHUR B. SPINGARN QO THURGOOD MARSHALL 
President Director and Counsel 

WALTER WHITE ROBERT L. CARTER 
Secretory Assistant Counsel 

ALLAN KNIGHT CHALMERS ARNOLD De MILLE 
Treasurer Pross Relations 

ADMIT NEGRO STUDENTS, U, OF ALABAMA TOLD July 1, 1955 

BIRMINGHAM, June 29.--The University of Alabama was ordered today 

by a federal court to admit two Negro students it had refused admit- 

tance three years ago because of their race. 

The case is the first to reach the federal courts since the 

Supreme Court issued its recent May 31 implementation decree ordering 

"prompt" desegregation in the five school segregation cases. 

Federal Judge Hobart Grooms, in issuing the order to restrain the 

University from refusing to admit the students because of race, declared 

that "this case places grave responsibility upon this court." But 

that the court is bound by the U. S, Supreme Court decision to issue 

the order. 

However, the judge reserved decision on the question of whether 

the suit applied to all Negro students in Alabama who might seek admis- 

sion to the University. 

The suit was brought against the University of Alabama by two 

young Negro women, Autherine J. Lucy and Polly Ann Myers, in September 

1952. They sought courses in journalism and library science and had 

received letters of welcome from the president of the University. 

Letters of welcome had also been sent to them by the Dean of Women who 

had assigned the two students to rooms in the Adams-Parker dormitory. 

However, when on September 20, 1952, they presented themselves in 

person to the office of the dean to complete their registration, the 

dean promptly advised them that an error had been made, The law of the 

state of Alabama will not permit them to enroll at the University of 

Alabama, the dean explained. 

The dean attempted to persuade Miss Lucy and Miss Myers to seek 

their desired courses at either the Alabama State College for Negroes 

at Montgomery or at Tuskegee Institute, with an offer to refund the 

deposits they had made on their rooms by mail. 

The students refused, They then appealed to the president of the 

University and later to the Board of Trustees, 



ss ® ® 

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After several months of silence, the Board of Trustees advised 

the students! attorneys that no action would be taken on their appli- 

cations until the Supreme Court had handed down its decision in the 

five pending school segregation cases, 

The case was filed with the U. S, District Court in Birmingham 

in July 1953. 

At the trial today, the judge pointed out that 13 months had 

elapsed since the Supreme Court rendered its May 17 decision declaring 

segregation in public education a violation of the federal Constitution, 

that almost one month had passed since the May 31 decree calling for 

"prompt" desegregation was issued. The Board of Trustees of the 

University of Alabama had not taken any action, the judge said. 

Attorneys for the University of Alabama argued that the two Negro 

students were not denied admission to the University because of their 

race, but because they did not meet the qualifications of the college. 

NAACP Legal Defense attorneys for the two Negro students were 

Arthur D, Shores of Birmingham and Constance Baker Motley of New York 

City. 

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