An Organized Legal Campaign

Beginning in the 1930s, African American attorneys developed a long-range
strategic plan to use the legal system to challenge official segregation in the
United States. Their decades-long campaign demanded a powerful strategy, support
from black communities across the country, and extraordinary legal expertise.

Two institutions led the way: the Howard University School of Law and the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Lawyers,
many trained at Howard and supported by the NAACP, helped African American
plaintiffs bring lawsuits against segregated school systems. Case by case, their
efforts began to undermine the legal principle of separate but equal.

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