by lisa m. boyd consumer health librarian nn/lm national network office national library of...
TRANSCRIPT
By Lisa M. Boyd
Consumer Health Librarian
NN/LM National Network Office
National Library of Medicine, NIH
Quest for Equality:Louis Kerr
versusThe Enoch Pratt Free
Library
Judicial Decisions
Librarian Training ProgramLouis Kerr v. Enoch
Pratt Free Library 1945Public Graduate
EducationSweatt v. Painter 1950McLaurin v. Oklahoma
State Regents 1950All Public Education
Brown v. Board of Education 1954
"Way Up South"
Photo Courtesy of U.S. Army Signal Corps
Courtesy of the National Library of Medicine
Louise Lyles Kerr
Baltimorean 27 Years old in 1943High School, Normal
School & University of Pennsylvania
Elementary School Teacher
Aspired to be a Librarian
Enoch Pratt Free Library Training Program
9 Month programProfessional training
for librariansGraduates employed
by Pratt LibraryOver 200 Black
applicants rejected“…unnecessary and
unpractical to admit colored persons…”
Enoch Pratt
Enoch Pratt Free Library Beginnings
Central Library on Mulberry Street 1886
1943 & 1944Pitcher Street Branch
Iona Wood CollinsHampton University
Thelma L. ThomasHartford, Connecticut
Alma Long BellAppointed Head ,
1944Clark Atlanta
University
Black Assistant Librarians
Pratt Library Staff
1943150 Senior & Junior
Assistant LibrariansMain Library26 Branches
2 Black Junior LibrariansBlack Neighborhood
Branches
Lillie May Carroll Jackson
President, NAACP Baltimore City Chapter 1935 - 1970
Charles Hamilton Houston
1895 - 1950 Education:
Amherst College 1915 Valedictorian
Harvard Law School 1923 cum laude Harvard Law Review
Dean, Howard University School of Law 1929- 1935 1931 ABA accreditation Association of American
Law Schools Counsel for NAACP 1935-
1940 Architect of Civil Rights
legal strategies
Fourteenth Amendment
“All persons born…in the United States…are citizens...”
“No State…shall abridge the privileges…of citizens…”
“…nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law,…”
Section 1:____________
Thurgood Marshall
1908 - 1993 Education:
Lincoln University 1930 Howard University
School of Law 1933 Career:
NAACP Attorney, Baltimore Branch 1934-36
Chief Counsel, NAACP 1936-61
Brown vs. Board of Education 1954
US Court of Appeals, Second Circuit 1961-65
Solicitor General 1965-67
Associate Justice, US Supreme Court 1967-91
Brown v. Board of Education 1954
Ended legalized segregation of public schools
“separate but equal” {Plessy v. Ferguson 1896} overturned
Lawsuit
Violation of 14th Amendment
$60,000 in damagesJoined by T.
Henderson KerrFather of LouisePharmacistTax Payer$5,000 in damages
Louise Kerr verus Enoch Pratt Free Library
Louise Kerr vs Enoch Pratt Free Library
Defendants:Pratt Library
Nine TrusteesLibrarian
Mayor of BaltimoreCity Council of
BaltimoreDefendants’ Lawyers
Harry N. BaetjerAllen A. Davis
Enoch Pratt Free Library Victorious
Judge W. Calvin Chestnut ruled:Pratt Library
Private corporationNot bound by 14th
AmendmentNo intent to
discriminate
March 7, 1944
Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of AppealsJudge Morris Ames
Soper wrote:Pratt Library
Public Agency of the State of Maryland
Violated 14th Amendment
April 17, 1945
Kerr & NAACP Victorious
Life After Verdict
Wheeler resigned Resolution rescinded Training program
opened to allPass then employed
by Library
The Kerr Principle
Don Herzog, University of Michigan at Ann Arbor Law School
Michigan Law Review, Vol. 105, October 2006
Louise Lyles Kerr-Hines
March 15, 1916 – April 9, 2007
Education: Douglass High School 1934 Coppin Normal School
1937 Married C. Morsell Hines
1946 Career:
Elementary School Teacher NAACP Office Secretary Afro American Newspaper
Reporter MD Department of Human
Resources – Retired 1978 Life Member of NAACP
Epilogue
Ms. Louis Lyles Kerr-Hines
Ms. Iona Wood CollinsMs. Thelma L. ThomasMs. Alma Long Bell
Thank You!
