Murray v. Pearson facts for kids

Murray v. Pearson was an important court case in Maryland. It happened in 1936. The case was about whether a state university could refuse to admit students based on their race. The court decided that the state of Maryland had to provide equal education for all students. This meant that Black students could not be kept out of the only law school in the state just because of their skin color. This decision helped make racial segregation illegal in Maryland.

Seeking Fair Education: The Circuit Court Case

In 1935, a young Black man named Donald Gaines Murray wanted to study law. He applied to the University of Maryland School of Law. But the university rejected his application. They told him he couldn't attend because he was Black. At that time, many places in the United States had laws that kept Black and white people separate. This was called racial segregation. The idea was "separate but equal", meaning facilities for Black people were supposed to be equal to those for white people, but they were almost never truly equal.

The university suggested Murray study law in another state. But laws are different in each state. So, studying law somewhere else wouldn't prepare him to be a lawyer in Maryland.

Fighting for Equal Rights

The oldest Black college fraternity, Alpha Phi Alpha, decided to help Donald Murray. They started the Murray v. Pearson case. Soon, two very important lawyers joined the team: Charles Hamilton Houston and Thurgood Marshall. They worked for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

Houston and Marshall used this case to challenge the "separate but equal" idea. They argued that the university was violating the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. This amendment includes the Equal Protection Clause. This part of the Constitution says that states must treat all people equally under the law.

Marshall argued that Maryland was not providing an equal education for Black students. Since there was no separate law school for Black students in Maryland, Murray should be allowed to attend the existing one. He famously said, "What's at stake here is more than the rights of my client. It's the moral commitment stated in our country's creed."

The circuit court judge agreed with Murray. The judge ordered the university president, Raymond A. Pearson, to admit Donald Murray to the law school.

Maryland's Highest Court: The Appeal

The University of Maryland did not agree with the circuit court's decision. So, they appealed the ruling to Maryland's highest court, the Maryland Court of Appeals.

In 1936, the Court of Appeals made a unanimous decision. This means all the judges agreed. They upheld the lower court's ruling. The court said that Maryland had to provide truly equal facilities if it was going to offer public education. Since the state only had one law school, that school had to be open to students of all races.

This decision did not end all segregation in Maryland's schools. But it was a big step forward. It showed that if a state chose to provide a public service, like a law school, it had to make that service available to everyone, regardless of their race.

The Impact of the Decision

The Murray v. Pearson case was a major victory. The university did not appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court. This meant the ruling only applied in Maryland. However, it set an important example.

The NAACP continued to use this legal strategy. They kept challenging segregation by demanding equal access to public places that were hard to duplicate. For example, it was very expensive to build a whole new law school just for Black students. This made it harder for states to argue that they were providing "separate but equal" facilities.

Later, in 1938, the U.S. Supreme Court dealt with a similar issue in the case of Missouri ex rel. Gaines v. Canada. This case also challenged segregation in higher education.

The fight for desegregation continued for many years. In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court made a landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education. This ruling finally declared that "separate but equal" schools were unconstitutional across the entire United States. Brown v. Board of Education overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson decision, which had allowed "separate but equal" for many years.

See also

• Yick Wo v. Hopkins
• Missouri ex rel. Gaines v. Canada
• Brown v. Board of Education
• Hocutt v. Wilson