3.6 William Masterson, Law School Dean, University of Missouri

https://bluetigercommons.lincolnu.edu/lgaines_sec1/1019/thumbnail.jpg

3.1 Lincoln University Law School

Despite his sudden disappearance, Lloyd Gaines’ impact had a resounding effect in many ways. The successful bridging of the gap from segregation to integration in the United States educational system was initiated because Gaines sought to be treated equally and fairly by the established powers. Much of the credit goes to the NAACP legal team, especially Charles Hamilton Houston’s dedication and expertise. However, without the initial action of Lloyd Gaines applying to the University of Missouri, there would have been no case. Additionally, the Lincoln University School of Law was founded due to the results of the Gaines case. Although it was only in operation for 16 years, it provided opportunities for those who had been denied previously.

1.6 School of Law, Lincoln University

Another dilemma also had to be dealt with; Lloyd Gaines was determined to attend law school, not just anywhere but at the University of Missouri. Shortly after the Supreme Court decision, Lloyd Gaines left his civil service job in Michigan and returned home to St. Louis, arriving on New Year’s Eve, 1938. In the meantime, to pay his bills, he took a job as a filling station attendant. On January 9, 1939, Gaines spoke to the St. Louis chapter of the NAACP. He told them he stood “ready, willing, and able to enroll at MU.” Gaines later quit his gas station job. He explained to his family that the station owner substituted inferior gas and that he could not, in good conscience, continue to work there. In the meantime, the state Supreme Court sent the Gaines case back to Boone County to determine whether the new law school at Lincoln would comply with the US Supreme Court’s requirement of “substantial equality.”

Juanita Kidd Stout

When Juanita Kidd was growing up in Wewoka, Oklahoma, she never saw a female lawyer, never mind a black female lawyer. At 16, Stout graduated from high school, but had to leave Oklahoma to find an accredited college, and later a law school that would accept her. Stout made an appearance at Lincoln University from 1935-1937, when she reigned as Queen of the Quill in 1936, but completed her Bachelor’s of Arts degree in Music from the University of Iowa. In 1948, Stout graduated from Indiana University’s School of Law. Juanita Stout paved the way for many aspiring female lawyers. In 1959, Stout was the first black female to be elected to a court of record in the United States. She also became the first black woman in history to serve on a state (Pennsylvania) Supreme Court.

Margaret Bush Wilson

Margaret Bush Wilson was a woman of highly exceptional stature. Bush accomplished much in her life; the most prominent being the first female on the N.A.A.C.P. national board of Directors. Much of her career consisted of civil rights and urban development. Before Mrs. Bush focused on her civil rights path, she was valedictorian of her graduating high school class. After completing her high school career, she began to study abroad, traveling to over six countries. These included: England, France, Ceylon, Japan, the Hawaiian Islands and her most extraordinary visit to India. Here Margaret met and spoke with Mahatma Gandhi which fueled her passion of the civil rights movement in the United States. Mrs. Bush pursued a law degree at Lincoln University Law School after completing her Bachelor’s at Talladega University. On top of her extraordinary accomplishments, Margaret Bush possessed the unique quality of appearing 10 years younger than her real age, reflecting her strong spirit and compassion towards humanity.

1.1 Lloyd Gaines: The Man, The Mission, & The Mystery

When great Civil Rights pioneers are discussed, the name Lloyd Gaines deserves to be mentioned. A man of humble beginnings, Gaines had dreams and goals for which he was willing to overcome outdated legal, social and educational systems do not only better himself but make a stand for his fellow man. The story of Lloyd Gaines is one of struggle, hope, success and injury. It is a life and legacy to be recognized, admired and celebrated.

1.3 Lloyd and George Gaines in an undated photograph

Lloyd Gaines and his brother George Gaines in an undated photograph

1.2 NAACP Headquarters, New York City, 1930s

Although Houston had scored a minor victory in the 1935 Murray v Pearson case which allowed African Americans to attend the University of Maryland Law School, the case only affected that state’s jurisdiction due to the decision originating from the Maryland State Supreme Court. It was Houston’s intention to move to the national level. For the NAACP, Lloyd Gaines was the ideal client; well spoken, intelligent and humble; and he was a citizen of the state of Missouri where the laws in question were enforced. Gaines’ case would be the main focus for Houston and the NAACP for the next three years.

1.6 Lloyd Hogsett, University of Missouri Legal Counsel

By March, 1936, the University of Missouri formally rejected Gaines because Missouri law would not permit a person of African descent to enter a white school. Within three weeks, the NAACP petitioned the court asking the University of Missouri to open its doors to Gaines on the grounds that it was the only public law school in Missouri.

2.5 Missouri State Supreme Court Building, Jefferson City, Missouri

On December 12, 1936, Charles Hamilton Houston was in Jefferson City, Missouri arguing Gaines’ appeal in front of the Missouri Supreme Court. Houston added some teeth to his argument by adding that neither “the slender hope” that Gaines may someday attend a new law program at Lincoln nor the provision of tuition scholarships to attend an out-of-state law school met the US Constitution’s requirement of equal treatment regardless of race.

3.1 Lloyd Gaines sitting in a chair

While Lloyd Gaines, who was now enrolled at the University of Michigan, worked on a Masters degree in Economics, Houston, Redmond and Espy planned their next step. The decisions in Missouri were not made on a level playing field, so to speak. They needed to take their case to place where justice was blind and unbiased; the Supreme Court of the United States.

1.5 Sherman D. Scruggs, 11th President of Lincoln University, 1938-1956

The LU Board of Curators ordered its president, Sherman Scruggs, to have a law school up and running and ready for Lloyd Gaines by September 1, 1939. This task seemed insurmountable; establishing a law school on an equal par with that of MU in eight months would, in the least, be miraculous.

2.1 Lloyd Gaines close up image

Charles Hamilton Houston and other NAACP attorneys assembled in early October 1939 to take depositions in preparation for the hearing scheduled a week later in Columbia to determine whether the university had complied with the Gaines decision. Attorneys took depositions from all of the instructors of the new LU law school as their preparation for the court proceedings wound down. The deposition of Lloyd Gaines was next. Attorneys planned to ask Gaines whether he considered Lincoln to be as good of a law school as Missouri and whether he planned to enroll. Called for questioning, Gaines did not respond. He could not be located anywhere. Lloyd’s mother, Callie Gaines, recalled that in January her son “left here to go to Kansas City to make a speech. That’s the last I saw of him.” While in Kansas City, Gaines spoke at the Centennial Methodist Church. He also looked for work, but not finding any caught a train for Chicago, telling people in Kansas City that he would stay a few days and return home.