Articles

When Heman Sweatt, a Black postal employee, applied to The University of Texas School of Law in 1946, officials rejected him because of his race. But Sweatt was not deterred. In fact, he had already volunteered to serve as the NAACP’s plaintiff in a suit to desegregate the law school. His qualifications included not only a college degree but also the courage and determination to endure four years of trials and the inevitable threats and vandalism. The Supreme Court’s unanimous decision in Sweatt v. Painter opened UT’s law school to African Americans and established an important precedent for Brown v. Board of Education. More»