NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund RecordsPublished/Created: 1915-1968 (bulk 1940-1960)
Brown vs.Board of Education is the fund's landmark case, the case that ended racial segregation in the public schools, and yet case files for Brown are not included in this series. They are preserved among the records of the NAACP along with those of other important education cases decided by the Supreme Court including State of Missouri ex rel. Gaines v. Canada (1938), Sipuel v. Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma (1948), Painter v. Sweatt (1950), and McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents (1950). However, records related to the Brown case can be found in the other series in this collection. The Supreme Court took up the school segregation cases consolidated under Brown in the spring term of 1953. Unable to reach a decision, the justices requested that both sides address five questions and reargue the case in the fall term. Records pertaining to the reargument are in the Office File, particularly the extensive records of the Committee on Historical Development. The Court decided the case in May 1954; segregation was ruled to be unconstitutional. But questions remained concerning implementation of the ruling. The court again asked the litigants to argue the case for implementation in what is commonly referred to as Brown II. The Legal Defense Fund organized a Committee of Social Science Consultants to address the questions of implementation. Committee records are located in the Office File. Related documents in the Subject File series are filed under "schools."