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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ay VL 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.