1.5 Vashon High School, Saint Louis, Missouri

After attending junior high school, Lloyd Gaines enrolled in Vashon High School two years later at the age of sixteen. Gaines proved to be an extremely talented student, especially excelling in history and English.

1.7 Stowe Teachers College, Saint Louis, Missouri

In addition to attending Stowe, Lloyd continued with his magazine subscription sales to help support his family. After a year at the local college, Lloyd Gaines made the decision to transfer to Lincoln University in Jefferson City Missouri.

3.2 Lorenzo Greene, Lincoln University History Professor, 1933-72

In late August, Lloyd Gaines filled out an application after conferring with Dr. Lorenzo Greene and one of his civics instructors at Vashon High School, Zaid D. Lenoir.

3.1 University of Missouri Campus, 1930s

In the spring of 1935, Lloyd Gaines had requested a catalog from the University of Missouri.

3.8 Guy B. Park, 38th Governor, Missouri, 1933-37

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3.7 Frederick Middlebush, 13th President of University of Missouri, 1935-54

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3.6 William Masterson, Law School Dean, University of Missouri

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3.5 S. Woodson Canada, University of Missouri Registra

Although Canada did not have the ultimate authority to reject Gaines’ application, the chances for Lloyd were bleak; it appeared that the School of Law at MU would not accept him.

1.4 Henry D. Espy, NAACP Attorney, Saint Louis, Missouri

Houston, Redmond and St. Louis attorney Cecil Espy began forming their case. The NAACP, on behalf of Lloyd Gaines, petitioned for a writ of mandamus in the Boone County Circuit Court.

1.3 Charles Hamilton Houston, NAACP Chief Attorney, 1930-54

The NAACP’s legal team, which eventually included Thurgood Marshall, had a strategy in mind for confronting the Plessy v Ferguson “separate but equal” Supreme Court decision of 1896. Walter White, the NAACP President assisted Houston in developing the plan. By concentrating on the “equal” aspect of Plessy, the NAACP would attempt to make “separate but equal” a financial impossibility for states toeing the line of “Jim Crow” laws. In the words of Charles Hamilton Houston, “we are going to bleed them white.”

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.

1.1 Sidney Redmond, NAACP Attorney, Saint Louis, Missouri 1930s

Lenoir, a member of the St. Louis branch of the NAACP, contacted Sidney Redmond, the branch’s legal consultant, about possible legal action. Redmond passed the information on to the national headquarters and their head of legal services, Charles Hamilton Houston.

1.8 Chicago Defender article "STIFF FIGHT IS SEEN IN MO. U. JIM CROW SUIT"

The NAACP argued that the 14th Amendment left the court with no other alternative than to order the admission of Gaines to Missouri. Judge W. M. Dinwiddie set July 10, 1936, for the presentation of oral arguments. Lloyd Gaines and the NAACP were ready to do battle.

1.7 Nicholas Cave, Assistant Legal Counsel, University of Missouri

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1.5 Walter F. White, NAACP President, 1931-55

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