Springfield, ILL. School District Board Required to Submit Desegregation Plan

Press Release
December 21, 1975

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Press Releases, Volume 6. Springfield, ILL. School District Board Required to Submit Desegregation Plan, 1975. e85f4f2c-bb92-ee11-be37-00224827e97b. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/f7cd0b6e-f3fe-4755-ab71-be6a5cfe2081/springfield-ill-school-district-board-required-to-submit-desegregation-plan. Accessed April 29, 2025.

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From: NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. see 

10 Columbus Circle \ 

New York, New York 10019 a 

212 - 586-8397 

Contact: Percy L. Julian, Jr. 

Until 1:30 p.m. 217 - 523-5661 (State House Inn, Springfield, 111.) 

After 1:30 p.m. 608 - 255-6400 (Answering service, Madison, Wisc.) 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

Springfield, I11., December 21 -- Attorneys for the NAACP Legal Defense 

and Educational Fund, Inc., announced today that a Consent Decree had been signed 

on behalf of the black student plaintiffs and the Springfield, Illinois School 

District No. 186, requiring the Board to submit a desegregation plan for approval 

by the local federal district court. 

The school desegregation lawsuit was a class action brought by 

Rev. Nigel McPherson, Sr. and other Springfield students and parents on behalf 

of all black children residing within the school district. It was filed 

April 11, 1974 and alleged a wide variety of discriminatory practices by the 

Board of Education of the district. 

The Consent Decree signed today is the equivalent of a Court ruling 

on the issue of the school district's liability. It includes the finding that 

various actions of the school board and school officials have contributed to 

the creation, intensification and perpetuation of school segregation in the 

district; it also itemizes the kinds of school district practices which violate 

the Constitution. 

The Decree requires the Springfield Board of Education immediately to 

eliminate and prevent racial segregation in its schools and sets a deadline 



of April 30, 1975 for the submission by the Board of a desegregation plan. 

Hearings will then be held if the plaintiffs object to the plan or wish to 

present an alternative. Desegregation is expected to commence for the 

1975-76 school year. 

The suit has been handled for the plaintiffs by Legal Defense Fund 

cooperating attorney Percy L. Julian, Jr. of Madison, Wisconsin, assisted 

by Norman J. Chachkin of the LDF staff in New York. Chachkin and Julian 

today praised the Springfield Board members for "accepting their constitutional 

responsibility in a constructive manner rather than carrying on a course of 

resistance to the law such as that exhibited by the Boston School Committee." 

Both said the plaintiffs looked forward to working with the school administra- 

tion in the hope of arriving at an agreement on an acceptable desegregation 

plan. 

NOTE TO EDITOR: The Legal Defense Fund is a completely separate 

organization even though it was established by 

the NAACP and those initials are retained in its 

name. The correct designation is NAACP Legal 

Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., frequently 

shortened to Legal Defense Fund.

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Springfield, ILL. School District Board Required to Submit Desegregation Plan

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