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.

3.3 Lloyd Gaines

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. His only other choice was to abide by a Missouri statute which allowed for blacks to apply for a scholarship to attend a school in a neighboring state if the desired program was not offered at Lincoln University. Lloyd was a citizen of Missouri and he was determined to be educated in his home state.

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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1.6 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.

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

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2.3 University of Missouri building

The university’s defense, led by William Hogsett, countered that the University was bound by law to reject Gaines’ application and stated that Lincoln University had to provide higher education for Negroes. This is the point that Houston wanted the court to address. Houston got Canada to admit the only students he would bar would be of African descent. Hogsett, on the other hand, was unable to unnerve young Mr. Gaines with speculation that the NAACP had put him up to applying at MU. Gaines replied,” No, that is my idea; about the [law] suit.”

2.1 Boone County Courthouse, Columbia, Missouri

July 10, 1936 was an extremely warm day in central Missouri when Lloyd Gaines, accompanied by his attorneys, arrived at the Boone County Courthouse in Columbia, Missouri to begin deliberations in the historic Gaines v Canada case.

2.6 Judge William F. Frank, Chief Justice, Missouri State Supreme Court

In February, 1937, the Court, in an opinion by Chief Justice William F. Frank, issued their verdict that supported the Missouri statute that allowed for out-of-state tuition for Missouri blacks to continue their education if the desired program was not offered at Lincoln University Once again, the legal team of Lloyd Gaines was not undaunted.

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.

2.4 Judge W. M. Dinwiddie Boone County, Missouri, 13th Circuit Court

Two weeks later, Judge Dinwiddie issued his decision in favor of Canada and the University. Houston was expecting this and appealed to the Missouri Supreme Court.