Supreme Court of the United States and Painter Case Essay

Submitted By mbrode
Words: 629
Pages: 3

In 1946, The University of Texas rejected a black man, Heman Sweatt, was rejected admission to the law school on the basis of his race. UT had established a “separate but equal” law school for blacks. The NAACP intervened and looked into the legitimacy of the black law school. While the admission requirements were the same and the instructors were all UT faculty, there were only three instructors and the facilities were sub-par in comparison to the actual law school’s. The University of Texas was in the right to finally integrate their University. However, the fact that it took a supreme court ruling to overturn the segregation put them in the wrong. In her article published in The Journal of African American History, Ramona Houston gives a strong background regarding NAACP involvement in the events leading up to the Sweatt v. Painter case, allowing the reader to understand that this “lawsuit had successfully challenged segregation in higher education in Texas and opened up the opportunity for African Americans to attend law and other professional schools throughout the nation.” (P.24). In this article, Houston gives the perfect type of information to start this project. As a non-biased article, the information comes straight as if from an encyclopedia. The NAACP played a large role in getting the Sweatt v. Painter case to the Supreme Court. From the start, the NAACP was fundraising and gaining support along with momentum for this case. While Sweatt was being rejected, the NAACP was preparing for the fight that this case was going to be. The significance of the NAACP’s involvement in this case is almost obvious but is that it provided the majority of support and funding for this case to get to where it did. In his book Defining “Equal” in Higher Education, Fred Vinson provides a full story about the case using his credentials to establish credibility with his readers to favor his subtle bias. With credentials including being a Supreme Court Justice, Vinson’s credibility made his argument valid. However, the facts validated his argument even more than his achievements. In his article, Vinson breaks down the differences and inadequacies of the black law school when compared side-by-side with the white law school. The alternative law school offered to Sweatt seemed legit on paper in multiple ways including the professors being actual UT faculty. However,