Jamail Center for Legal Research
Tarlton Law Library

Prints & Photographs Collection, Heman Sweatt file, The Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin Selected Case Files Docket Sheet Bench Memorandum April 1, 1950, memorandum to Justice Clark from law clerk Draft of per curium opinion dismissing on jurisdictional grounds Memorandum from Justice Clark to other justices sitting in conference on the case Draft opinion from Chief Justice Vinson to Justice Clark

Four years before the Supreme Court issued its momentous decision in Brown v. Board of Education, the Court addressed the issue of racial segregation in public universities. In 1946, an African-American named Heman Sweatt applied for admission to the University of Texas School of Law. His application was rejected because he was black. With the assistance of the NAACP, Sweatt filed suit and the case made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that it was a violation of the constitutional guarantee of equal protection under the law to deny admission on the basis of race. The Court ordered that Sweatt be admitted to the school.

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