Hazel McDaniel Teabeau

Hazel McDaniel Teabeau was born in Arkansas in 1892, and she received her BA in English from the University of Kansas in 1915. Her interest in social causes and concern for civil rights are prevalent in her accomplishments. In 1937, she joined the Lincoln University English Department faculty, where she taught for twenty years. While on sabbatical from Lincoln University, Teabeau became the first black woman to enroll at the University of Missouri. She enrolled there at the age of 57 to seek a PhD in Speech and Dramatics, and in 1959 she became the first black woman to receive a doctorate from the University of Missouri.

2.7 Lincoln University Senior Class of 1935

After graduation, Lloyd Gaines filed papers with placement office at Lincoln but he could not find an immediate position. Although he minored in education, Gaines was not primarily searching for a teaching position. However, he had a backup plan. Lloyd's background in history led him to an interest in the law and unbeknownst to anyone, save his mentor, Lorenzo Greene, he was preparing to what no American-American had done before. Lloyd Gaines was going to enroll in the University Missouri School of Law.

1.6 Lloyd Gaines, Valedictorian, Vashon Class of 1931

Lloyd Gaines also helped to support his family by selling magazine subscriptions. He graduated in 1931 after only three years and served as the Valedictorian of his class. As a senior, Gaines finished first in a local essay contest, winning a prize of $250 (equivalent to $3000 in modern currency) that he used to enroll as a student at Stowe Teachers College in St. Louis for the 1931-32 school year

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.”

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.