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WITHOUT A SWORD OR A SHIELD: THE FIGHTING ARMY BEHIND BROWN Dissertation in History and Humanities Presented to the Faculty of the University of Missouri-Kansas City in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy by DEBORAH KEATING B.A., University of Texas-Dallas, 1980 M.A., University of Missouri-Kansas City, 2000 M.A., University of Missouri-Kansas City, 2015 Kansas City, Missouri 2021 © 2021 DEBORAH KEATING ALL RIGHTS RESERVED WITHOUT A SWORD OR A SHIELD: THE FIGHTING ARMY BEHIND BROWN Deborah Keating, Candidate for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree University of Missouri-Kansas City, 2021 ABSTRACT The struggle of Black Americans to obtain access to economic and political opportunities available to Whites in the United States began with the arrival of the first enslaved persons in 1619 and continues today. Men and women of courage led the struggle, many of whom are well-known to history. There are many others, however, whose contributions are lost. In losing those stories, the history of the Black resistance movement also loses much of its human pathos. Looking at Black resistance through the stories of the individuals who participated at the ground-level in the protracted legal battle for educational equality, Brown v. Board of Education provides a unique bottom-up view of the Black resistance experience in America. While the individual stories of those who initiated and sustained the legal struggle for equal education are essential to capture, often, the success of the struggle is overstated or misrepresented. Brown created a vast sea-change in American racial relations. Some changes were positive and some not, but seventy years after the initial court decision in 1954, the quality of American public education is questionable, and the sacrifices the original families made are at risk of being for naught. iii APPROVAL PAGE The faculty listed below, appointed by the Dean of the School of Graduate Studies, have examined a dissertation titled “Without a Sword or a Shield: The Fighting Army Behind Brown,” presented by Deborah Keating, candidate for the Doctor of Philosophy degree, and certify that in their opinion it is worthy of acceptance. Supervisory Committee Diane Mutti Burke, Ph.D., Committee Chair Department of History Andrew S. Bergerson Department of History Rebecca Davis, Ph.D. Department of History John Herron, Ph.D. Department of History iv CONTENTS ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................... iii ILLUSTRATIONS ............................................................................................................ vi TABLES .......................................................................................................................... viii MAPS ................................................................................................................................. ix NOTES ON USAGES .........................................................................................................x IN MEMORIAM .............................................................................................................. xii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................. xiii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................1 CHAPTER 2: JIM CROW AND THE FIGHT FOR EDUCATION ............................... 40 CHAPTER 3: LEADERSHIP IN THE BLACK TRADITION: FOUR PREACHERS AND A BARBER ..............................................................................................................71 CHAPTER 4: WIVES AND MOTHERS, ACTIVISTS AND TEACHERS ..................133 CHAPTER 5: THE CHILDREN: PROTESTERS AND VICTIMS ...............................185 CHAPTER 6: THE LAWYERS AND THE JUDGES ....................................................216 CHAPTER 7: EPILOGUE ...............................................................................................270 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................297 VITA ................................................................................................................................320 v ILLUSTRATIONS Illus. Page 1. Rev. Francis Griffin .......................................................................................................72 2. Rev. Joseph De Laine ...................................................................................................91 3. Harry Briggs Receiving an Award .................................................................................97 4. Rev. James Seals ..........................................................................................................100 5. Mass Meeting at Liberty Hill Church ..........................................................................102 6. Rev. McKinley Burnette ..............................................................................................109 7. Rev. Oliver Brown .......................................................................................................112 8. Gardner Bishop ............................................................................................................117 9. Esther Swirk Brown .....................................................................................................139 10 Alvin Todd, Lucinda Todd and Daughter Nancy .......................................................142 11. Harry and Eliza Briggs...............................................................................................157 12. Jean Fairfax ................................................................................................................177 13. Brown Attorneys on Steps of the Supreme Court ......................................................216 14. Louis Redding ............................................................................................................229 15. Irving Morris ..............................................................................................................234 16. Elisha Scott, John Scott and Charles Scott ................................................................241 17. Charles Bledsoe .........................................................................................................243 18. Jack Greenberg...........................................................................................................245 19. School Segregation Case – Order of Argument .........................................................248 20. Harold Boulware, Thurgood Marshall and Spottswood Robinson, III. .....................250 21. James Nabrit and George E.C. Hayes ........................................................................255 vi Illus. Page 22. Judge Waites Waring .................................................................................................259 23. Judge Collin Seitz. .....................................................................................................264 vii TABLES Table Page 1. Literacy Rates ................................................................................................................52 2. Unemployment Rates and Earnings by Educational Attainment .............................212 3. Number of Black Lawyers in the Confederate States 1880-1940................................221 4. Public School Racial Mix Projection ...........................................................................281 5. Distribution of Wealth Amongst Racial Categories in U.S .........................................283 viii MAPS Map Page 1. Map of Virginia Showing Regions ................................................................................84 2. Map of South Carolina Showing Regions .....................................................................94 3. Map of Greater Washington, D.C. by Census Tract – 1940. .......................................119 4. Map of Delaware and Counties....................................................................................154 5. Map of Students of Color in U.S. Public Schools........................................................277 6. Map of Low-Income Students Enrollment in U.S. Public Schools .............................287 ix NOTES ON USAGES NAACP vs. NAACP LDF The use of the acronym NAACP or NAACP LDF can be confusing. In 1940, under pressure from the Internal Revenue Service, the NAACP established the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF) with a separate board. The two organizations were virtually interchangeable, sharing the same offices, staff, finances, and board members. After the Brown decision, Southern congressmen brought increasing pressure on the Internal Revenue Service to investigate the validity of the LDF’s tax-exempt status. During this time, Marshall had Robert Carter assigned to the NAACP as its in-house attorney, and Marshall resigned as the parent organization’s special counsel. In 1957 the board members were split, making the split between the two entities as factual in reality as on paper. However, each continued to use NAACP as their corporate name. This situation confused its members, the press, legislatures, and even historians, especially when Robert Carter began filing civil rights cases for the NAACP separate from those filed by the Legal Defense Fund. For this dissertation, I used “NAACP” for cases filed before 1940 but heard after that
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