People, Locations, Episodes

Brown v. Baskin is Ruled

*On this date in 1948, Brown v. Baskin was ruled.  This was one of the legal building blocks against voter suppression against Black citizens in the United States.  One month after the South Carolina General Assembly repealed all statutes related to party primaries in the state to maintain its white primary, Black leaders formed the […]

Janice Brown, Lawyer and Judge born

*Janice Rogers Brown was born on this date in 1949. She is an African American judge.

From Laverne, Alabama, she attended segregated schools because there was no other opportunity for her to receive an education. She says, her family believed that change would come. At an early age, Rogers witnessed the day in 1954 when the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its decision on the case of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. She recalls seeing her grandmother running across the street from her uncle’s house shouting, “They did it! Thank God, they did it!”

Webb v. School District No. 90 is decided

*On this date in 1949, Webb v. School District No. 90 was decided. This Supreme Court case involved 39 Black students fighting for educational rights. Background Population growth after World War II prompted the construction of a new $90,000 South Park Elementary School near Merriam, Kansas. The district school board had unlawfully established the Walker […]

Lani Guinier, Lawyer, and Educator born

Lani Guinier was born on this date in 1950.

Briggs v. Elliott is Filed

On this date in 1950, Briggs v. Elliott, a civil Rights case was filed. This legal maneuver assisted the groundwork for Brown v. the Board of Education 4 years later, was filed.

McLaurin v. Oklahoma Board of Regents is Ruled

* On this date 1950, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that separate but equal conditions were unattainable in graduate and professional education in the McLaurin v. Oklahoma Board of Regents.

Sweatt v. Painter is Ruled

*Sweatt v. Painter, 339 U.S. 629 (1950) was decided on this date in 1950.   This U.S. Supreme Court case successfully challenged the “separate but equal” doctrine of racial segregation established by the 1896 case Plessy v. Ferguson. Four years later, the case was influential in the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case. The case involved a Black man, Heman Marion […]

Eric Holder, Lawyer, and Administrator born

*Eric Holder was born on this date in 1951. He is an African American lawyer and administrator.

Eric Himpton Holder, Jr. was born in The Bronx, New York, to parents who emigrated from Barbados. He grew up in Queens and was educated at Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan and attended Columbia University, where he earned a B.A. in 1973 and a J.D. in 1976.

Chance v. Lambeth is Decided

*Chance v. Lambeth was decided on this date in 1951. This suit was brought to the United States Court of Appeals Fourth Circuit by William C. Chance.   He was a 64-year-old Black school teacher trying to recover damages from the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company. This was because he was wrongfully ejected because of his […]

Peter Bynoe, Lawyer and Businessman born.

*Peter Bynoe was born on March 20, 1951. He is a Black attorney and businessman. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Peter Charles Bernard Bynoe’s father, Victor C. Bynoe, emigrated from Barbados at age 13 and became a successful attorney; he represented Boston Celtics player Bill Russell. He also had an Uncle, John Bynoe, who was active […]

Sheila Abdus-Salaam, Attorney born

*Sheila Abdus-Salaam was born on this date in 1952. She was a Black, lawyer and associate judge on the New York Court of Appeals.
Born Sheila Turner in Washington, D.C., she grew up in a working-class family with six siblings; her great-grandfather was a slave in Virginia. She attended the public schools, was a 1974 graduate of Barnard College and a 1977 graduate of Columbia Law School. She and future United States Attorney General Eric Holder were classmates at Columbia.

Gebhart v. Belton is Ruled

*On this date in 1952, Gebhart v. Belton was ruled.  This case was decided by the Delaware Court of Chancery and affirmed by the Delaware Supreme Court in the same year. Argued by Louis Redding, Gebhart was one of the five cases combined into Brown v. Board of Education, the 1954 United States Supreme Court, […]

Charles Ogletree, Lawyer and Author born.

*Charles Ogletree was born on this date in 1952. He was a Black legal scholar and author of books on legal topics. Charles James Ogletree Jr. was born in Merced, California, to parents who were farm workers. He earned his B.A. (1974, and MA (1975) in political science from Stanford University and his J.D. from […]

Mike Espy, Lawyer, and Administrator born

*Michael Espy was born on this date in 1953.  He is a Black lawyer and politician.    Alphonso Michael Espy was born in Yazoo City, Mississippi.  He is the grandson of Thomas J. Huddleston Sr., founder of the Afro-American Sons and Daughters. This fraternal society operated the Afro-American Hospital, a leading healthcare provider for Blacks […]

Amos v. Prom is Decided

*On this date in 1954, Amos v. Prom, Inc. was decided. This case involved a Black citizen being denied access to a public business based on race. The plaintiffs were George Dunn and William Pappas, citizens and residents of the State of Iowa. The defendant is a corporation organized under the laws of the State […]