Breaking Down Barriers_George McLaurin and the Struggle to End Segregated Education_Book Review

1 Breaking Down Barriers: George McLaurin and the Struggle to End Segregated Education (Book Review) Catherine M. Jermany School of Education, University of Southern Mississippi HE 711: History of Higher Education Dr. Thomas V. O’Brien April 21, 2021

2 Breaking Down Barriers: George McLaurin and the Struggle to End Segregated Education (Book Review) Most are familiar with the 1896 landmark case, Plessy v. Ferguson , in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that separate but equal accommodations for whites and blacks did not violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Similarly, many are also aware of the 1954 landmark decision of Brown v. Board of Education , in which the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Plessy v. Ferguson and determined that the “separate but equal” doctrine was unconstitutional. However, what is not commonly well known, is the U.S. Supreme Court case, McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents , which preceded Brown v. Board of Education and essentially paved the way for Thurgood Marshall to successfully overturn the Plessy v. Ferguson ruling a few years later. Thus, David Levy’s Breaking Down Barriers: George McLaurin and the Struggle to End Segregated Education (2020) contributes to the rich literature on the civil rights movement by highlighting the relatively unfamiliar, yet significant legal battle of George McLaurin – an elderly man who would became the first black person to enter the University of Oklahoma, and whose case would be one of the first in history to directly challenge the “separate but equal” provision. The story of George McLaurin and the quest to desegregate higher education takes place in Oklahoma more than half a century after the landmark case, Plessy v. Ferguson. Levy (2020) argues that in Oklahoma, the first response to the “separate but equal” ruling occurred within higher education. Due to state segregation laws, blacks were barred from enrolling into white college and universities, however, there were no institutions of higher education for blacks in the state. Thus, Levy (2020) concludes that the clear violation of “separate but equal” lead to the state’s establishment of the Oklahoma Colored Agricultural and Normal University in 1897, now known as Langston University. However, another plausible explanation for the establishment of Langston University, is that it was the passage of the Second Morrill Act (not the Plessy ruling) that directly lead to the founding of Langston University. As outlined in Thelin (2019), the Second Morrill Act was passed in 1890 and provided states with annual funding to support its land grant college. That same year, Oklahoma State University (OSU) was established as a land-grant institution. However, the cavate to the Second Morrill Act was that in order for states to receive federal funding, land-grant institutions had to either admit black students or create separate institutions for them. Thus, the state of Oklahoma had only two choices: allow blacks to enroll at OSU or establish a university for black students. Another indication that the Morrill Act of 1890, not the Plessy verdict, was directly linked to the establishment of Langston University is that fundamentally, the Plessy verdict did not pose a viable threat to segregation within higher education. At least not until the issue of equal higher educational opportunities for blacks was brought to court, and that would not happen until the mid-1930s, with the ruling of Pearson v. Murray in 1936. Therefore, it could be argued that the state only made separate accommodations for black students as a result of direct litigation and since Plessy involved the railroad industry, the state would not have felt any legal pressure to establish an university for blacks. To that point, George McLaurin’s educational journey at the University of Oklahoma (OU) began in January of 1948 when he and five other black students arrived at the university president’s office on the last day to register for spring courses. The students had arrived at the university within weeks of the court’s unanimous ruling on Sipuel v. The Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma , which declared that if a major or field of study was not offered at Langston University, then the state was obligated to provide the major, or stop offering it to

4 Perhaps, the most convincing indications that contradict Levy’s (2020) assertion that McLaurin and his fellow black classmates endured 21 months of hell, is the overwhelming support of desegregation from white classmates. Coincidently, this is a strength of Levy’s book; he provides a compelling counternarrative to the typical accounts of racist white southerners who fight tooth and nail to uphold white supremacy. Levy (2020) uses student surveys, interviews, and newspapers to provide significant insight into the attitudes and beliefs held by the white students, faculty, and staff during the time. Throughout the chapter titled, The People Speak , Levy (2020) highlights that the university’s faculty, staff, and administration were largely in favor of admitting black students. Furthermore, Levy (2020) points out that the majority of white students were either in favor of eliminating segregation or relatively indifferent to the entire issue. Additionally, multiple polls created by various groups, organizations, and local newspapers revealed that many students favored admitting blacks onto the campus in any capacity. Another strength of Breaking Down Barriers is that the author, David W. Levy, provides readers with important historical context and explains the political atmosphere prior to and during the late 1940s and early 1950s. In the first chapter titled, A Tradition of Segregation , Levy (2020) provides a historical overview of slavery with special attention given to the relationship between enslaved blacks and their indigenous enslavers; a very unfamiliar narrative that is not widely told in mainstream U.S. history. In chapter five, Levy (2020) highlights national and global monumental events and occurrences such as the 1948 presidential election, the shifting of American political party ideologies, World War I, and the Cold War. Toward the end of the novel, Levy (2020) completes his intertwining of historical context by shedding light on the selection process of the nine Supreme Court justices who would hear McLaurin’s case, and speaks to the volatility and inner-group conflict that was taking place within the group. David Levy does an amazing job at providing historical context and a comprehensive backstory of the series of court cases leading up to the McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents verdict. Specifically, Levy meticulously details how each case and NAACP affiliate was interconnected. For that reason, it is surprising that Levy failed to mention the Mendez v. Westminster case – a lawsuit involving the segregation of Mexican American school children in California. The Mendez case was decided in 1947 (the year before Thurgood Marshall picked up the McLaurin case), and the California Federal District Judge ruled in favor of Mendez, citing that segregation of Mexican American children in public schools was illegal. This is the largest oversight in Breaking Down Barriers , specifically because Thurgood Marshall’s name was on the amicus brief filed by the NAACP for Mendez and that Robert Carter drew up the arguments for the case. What is more, is that following the Mendez case, California Governor Earl Warren decided to abolish school segregation within the state, and seven years later, would become the Chief Justice on the Supreme Court when it heard Brown v. Board of Education . Levy argues that it was the McLaurin case that led directly to the 1954 landmark decision in Brown v. Board of education, however, it can be argued that it was in fact the precedent-setting decision of the Mendez case ultimately led to the desegregation of public schools. The story of George McLaurin and the McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents case is not only a significant part of U.S. history, but education as well. Traditionally, historical text has only highlighted victorious wins of desegregation regarding secondary education, such as the Brown and Mendez cases or the story of Ruby Bridges. Therefore, Breaking Down Barriers serves as a missing, yet essential narrative regarding the efforts to desegregate higher education.