RELATED CASES

In the 1930's. Charles Hamilton Houston, special counsel for the NAACP, instituted a strategy for challenging segregation in education through the courts. These major cases in the years before 1951, paved the way for Brown v. Board of Education.

Missouri ex rel. Gaines v. Canada (1938)
The University of Missouri refused to admit Lloyd Gaines to its law school because it believed the school was only for whites. It was common for the state to send black students to neighboring states for courses of study not offered in the black schools. Since Missouri did not have a separate and equal law school for African Americans, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Gaines must be allowed to attend the University of Missouri Law School.

Sipuel v. Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma (1948)
When Ada Lois Sipuel was denied entry to law school, the University set up a "class" overnight with 3 instructors, 3 classrooms, and separate access to the law library at the state capital. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled this was illegal, and she was finally allowed to enroll.

McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education (1950)
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that George W. McLaurin, a student who was required to eat and study at separate tables, must be treated the same as white students. Chief Justice Fred Vinson said in the ruling that separate accommodations denied McLaurin "his personal and present rights to equal protection of the laws" under the 14th Amendment. Continuing, Vinson said "McLaurin must receive the same treatment...as students of other races."

Sweatt v. Painter (1950)
This case was an important predecessor to Brown v. Board of Education, because the U.S. Supreme Court decided 9-0 that the "separate but equal" doctrine established in the Plessy case was unworkable and ultimately doomed.

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