Original subtitles

In South Carolina in the early 1950s,

the children who went to the 'Scott's Branch School'

had no way of knowing

that their school and their story

would one day have a place

in the history books of their country.

Good morning.

I pledge allegiance to the flag

of the United States of America

and to the republic for which it stands,

one nation, indivisible,

with liberty and justice for all.

How are you all this morning?

Fine.

I think what we'll do this morning

is practice our handwriting.

Has everybody got a pencil and paper?

I need a pencil.

You need a pencil. All right.

Here, you get a pencil.

All right. You can start now.

That's good.

Sorry, rev. found the boy asleep.

Figured I ought to bring him over here.

Harry Jr., you better hustle in there

and get to work.

Go on!

Your boy's not keeping up around here, Harry.

Well, he walks here near 5 miles

every morning, rev,

and home every night.

Every time he looks at those books of his,

he falls sound asleep.

Well, Mr. Kerrigan finds

I've been chauffeuring Harry around

on his time and in his truck,

I'll lose me a pretty sweet job.

Good. Look up.

Ok. Now, what's 3 times 8?

And where does the 4 go?

That's right.

Carry the 2. That's right.

That's right.

Now, you do the next one.

6 times 8.

All right, put away your things

and leave quietly.

I'm Reverend Delaine.

I'm principal at 'Scott's Branch School.'

Is superintendent Springer in?

May I see him?

Hey, get on in here, J.A.

Hey, J.A.

Who's minding things over at Scott's Branch?

Mr. Springer, we have a serious problem

over at our place.

We got problems everywhere.

Don't you know that?

Yeah. Education is hard work.

Too much to teach, too little time.

My children have to walk to school.

Some walk 5, 6 miles.

Some have stopped coming at all.

It's a bad situation, sir.

We need a bus.

Runnin' schools is expensive.

There's salaries,

maintenance, insurance.

Books, heat, electricity.

It costs a ton of money.

We just need one bus.

You've got 30 buses for the white children.

Now, you know well as anybody white people

pay more taxes than colored people do.

Give us your oldest bus.

We'll pay for the gas.

Now, how can I make myself clear?

Now, we just ain't got any money

for buses for your nigger children.

We need to talk, Harry.

This is Howard Bullwer.

Mr. Bullwer's an attorney.

Come on in.

What we have here, Mr. Briggs, is a petition

to the Clarendon county board of education.

It says that you, "Being the father

"of Harry Briggs, JR., age 12,

"want school bus transportation

"to be furnished, maintained, and operated

"out of the public school district number 26

"of Clarendon county

"for the said use of said child

and other negro schoolchildren similarly situated."

If they use tax money

to give bus service to the white children,

they have to give it to us, too.

The 14th amendment to the constitution states

that each citizen is guaranteed equal protection

under the law.

Would this go to court?

It could.

Harry.

Well...

I don't guess I spent 3 years

in the U.S. Navy

to keep the world safe for Jim Crow.

Reverend...

I sure hope this man know his business.

What do you boys want?

Hello, Mr. Springer. won't you come in?

No, just stoppin' for a minute.

What is this business, J.A.?

Now, Harry Briggs and that negro lawyer

are makin' a mess with this bus business.

Some say you're in on it, too.

Now, look, Delaine, Briggs is suin' me,

and you and I work together.

We're part of the same school system.

Doesn't make sense for people to be in court

causin' a bunch of trouble we don't need.

What we need is a bus

and some more money for our school.

Well, you're not gonna get it in court.

All you're gonna get in court is a big dose

of trouble you don't need.

Delaine...

you better call these people off.

I'm holding you responsible.

You hear me?

I told you, Josiah C. Tulley's

the smartest son of a bitch

in the Southeastern United States,

maybe the whole damn country.

Well, modesty does not allow ranting.

It's just that some lawyers

do not do their homework.

And it's not that Tulley is so good.

It's that our niggers

don't even know where they live.

It was cold in Korea today,

with the mercury down to 9 degrees below zero.

In the air, our saber jets destroyed one enemy mig

and damaged another...

We had no way of knowing

that your place here was on the wrong side

of the district line.

You pay taxes in district 5.

The school is in district 22.

It turns out you lack legal standing

in the court.

Well, I don't know much about the courts,

but this business means

everybody's makin' a fool of me,

sayin' I don't even know where I live.

It's a technicality.

Well, my boy's still walkin' to school.

Mr. Briggs...

I do some work with the legal defense fund

of the national association

for the advancement of colored people.

I talked with the NAACP's top man

in New York at headquarters,

a lawyer.

He's prepared to come here

and meet with us.

He's won cases in the south.

If we back off now...

we'll never get anything.

That's good hymn-singing.

I'm reverend Delaine.

Thurgood Marshall.

What happened to Harry Briggs

happens everywhere we go.

Putting one man out front is risky.

They'll find a way to disqualify him

or to scare him off.

If there are 20 people here in Summerton

who are willing to sign a complaint

against the school board,

we will bring a case here.

What sort of case?

Your county spends...

$179 a year for each white child

and only $43 for each colored child.

That's not equal, and that means

it's against the law, pure and simple.

But Mr. Marshall, when I was a boy,

there was no school here at all.

I just don't think it's a smart thing

to put a sword to the white man's throat.

Mm-hmm. Yes.

Most of us round here are tenant farmers.

We work the white folks' land.

We need money to get seed and fertilizer.

We have to borrow from the banks.

We ain't tryin' to take anything away

from these white folks.

I just mean to get an education

for that little black boy of mine.

He just as good

as any other South Carolina boy.

I'll bet he's better than a lot of them.

Our reverend at our church back home

used to say he liked to think

that when the Lord created him,

he did not do it on a saturday

when he was tired out

and didn't have much to work with.

He said he preferred to think

the Lord created him early monday morning

when he had the best materials

to work with and all the energy he needed.

What our reverend was saying

is that we are equal

to anyone on the face of the earth.

And the Constitution of the United States

says the same thing.

14th amendment--no state shall deny any person

the equal protection of the law.

They added that amendment

to give our folks a fair chance.

Mr. Marshall?

The law doesn't mean much down here.

We just finished a case...

where they wouldn't admit a colored man

into the law school at The University of Texas.

The supreme court in Washington

said they had to let him in

because there was no equal facility in Texas.

And we all know what these doghouse schools mean

to the future of our children.

That's why the NAACP has started test cases

in the courts...

in Kansas and Virginia.

And we're willing to bring a case here

in South Carolina,

but we can't do it without you.

If 20 taxpaying people sign up,

we will come down here.

Mr. Marshall...

what we need to know is...

what chance there is of it working.

There will be hostility and probably reprisals,

but the law is on our side.

Sorry, Thurgood.

I thought they'd be all for it.

Well...

in 2 hours I'm back on a train.

Saturday night I'm sleeping in my own bed,

safe and sound in New York City.

I'm asking these people

to risk their jobs and their safety.

That's asking a lot.

I call you.

So, this is what you people do

when I'm out of town.

This is what we do when you're in town.

I see Bob Carter likes it around here

when I'm away.

It's 7:00, Thurgood. Sit in with us.

I'm in for an hour.

We gotta be back here at 8:00 in the morning.

Greenberg, you're the one

doing all the work around here.

I can't afford to be a civil rights lawyer

and lose money playing poker with those guys.

What gives, Ruth Alice?

All right there on your desk.

I fold.

Call.

Call.

Aces.

3.

That's the wrap, money man.

Yeah. I'll tell you, boys,

it's real nice being back in New York City,

real nice.

Thurgood.

South Carolina for you.

Yep. One second.

Ok. Deal 'em out.

Thurgood Marshall.

Mr. Marshall, I wanted you to know

I'm starting tonight.

I'm going after those petitions.

Good luck, reverend.

ob, we gotta start digging out

everything there is on South Carolina schools.

Schools or colleges?

Public schools.

What county?

Clarendon. Preacher down there is gonna try

to get enough signatures for a case.

Success in a couple

of university graduate schools

is one thing, Thurgood.

When we go after public schools,

we got to be sure it's the right time

and the right place.

That preacher's got guts.

All right, you get on outta here.

Go on.

Get off the road!

Move! Get on down there!

Pull over!

# I'm gonna let it shine

# All around the neighborhood

# I'm gonna let it shine

# All around the neighborhood

# I'm gonna let it shine

# Let it shine

# Let it shine

# Let it shine

# All in my heart

# I'm gonna let it shine

# All in my heart

# I'm gonna let it shine

# Let it shine

# Let it shine

# Let it shine

# All in my church

# I'm gonna let it shine

# Let it shine

# Let it shine

# Let it shine #

J.C., can't something be done

to settle these people down?

Superintendent, can you tell me

why your district is the only district

in the entire state of South Carolina

that has people runnin' off

to the NAACP in New York?

Like M-Mr. Tulley says, governor,

we've got agitators.

A--a few stubborn people

who are just huntin' to make trouble.

Our colored schools are no different

than any others in the state.

How do they compare with the white schools?

How much would it cost

to make the colored schools equal?

Most of the colored people

are happy with what they got.

My question was, how much would it cost?

'cause I'm prepared to spend some money on schools,

substantial money,

to avoid a legal tangle.

Superintendent, I would like you

to get your house in order.

J.C., I am determined to show

that segregation and discrimination

are not the same thing.

Now, I want those people to have

what they're entitled to by law--

equal schooling.

I do not want the federal courts

pokin' around South Carolina's classrooms.

The courts don't wanna fool with public schools.

No one wants that.

Not even your friend judge Waring?

He's like a loose cannon on this kind of thing.

The loneliest man in town.

Cut his ties with his first wife,

took up with that yankee girl

outta New York.

He needs friends.

Hmm. I don't trust him.

Surprise!

Who says a shrewd and cunning lawyer

can't be surprised?

Happy birthday, baby.

Now, before Thurgood starts snoopin' around,

I want Bob Carter to say his piece.

Don't get Bob Carter started.

We'll be here all night.

Now, Buster gets all the credit

for the idea,

but it was your affectionate

and, uh, overworked colleagues

that all chipped in.

Now, come on in here, Thurgood.

Mm-hmm!

Oh, that's it, that's it!

Ohh!

Yes.

You got it right!

This is what I always wanted.

My daddy was a pullman car waiter

for the Baltimore & Ohio. 35 years.

When I was a kid,

I--I used to dream

about being an engineer.

When I was 20,

my daddy got me a job as a waiter.

Now, look a'here.

I got my own railroad!

Oh.

I'm by myself.

We've gotten along good over the years,

haven't we, J.A?

Now, I'm sorry to see this trouble all of a sudden.

It's not doing anybody any good.

People have been livin' and going to school

in peace around here for a long time now.

And the way I see it is, you and me,

we gotta make sure that continues.

Don't you agree, J.A.?

I'm a preacher, Mr. Springer.

I believe in peace.

Yeah, I knew we could work things out.

I may be able to get my hands

on a bus for Scott's Branch,

keep your kids from gettin' to school all tired out.

This has gotten bigger than school buses.

I had a talk with the governor,

and we're gonna do a lot around here

to make things better.

As soon as you call off these legal shenanigans,

I'm gonna recommend to the school board

that you get a raise.

It's gone too far, Mr. Springer.

We're not turning back.

How do, Mr. Kerrigan?

Anything wrong?

No.

Just, uh,

I got me a boy to take over this place.

Strong young fella.

Someone I can count on. Reliable.

You been countin' on me

for 8 years now, Mr. Kerrigan.

New boy will be here tomorrow.

66 signatures.

This will make a strong case.

To ask for equal school facilities

or to end segregation?

I thought we decided that.

The NAACP policy says

we're gonna fight segregation head-on.

It doesn't say when,

and it sure doesn't say South Carolina.

Separate but equal is the law of the land.

When we demand equal,

we're asking for what the law gives us.

If we demand an end to segregation,

we are challenging the laws

of the United States.

You wanna go one by one

to every school district in the south

trying to get the judges to force them

to make the colored schools equal?

It's the beachhead strategy.

Make them spend so much making their schools equal

that they finally cave in and integrate.

You know how many segregated school districts

there are in this country?

11,173.

Each case costs money,

and even if we win every one of them,

it'll take forever.

When we challenge segregation head-on,

we have to do it in the right place.

Deep south is not the right place!

White people down there are terrified at the idea

of their little white girls going to school

with little black boys.

Thurgood, let's wait for a border state.

Wait till our Topeka case is ready.

We've got a chance in Kansas.

We always say we're gonna fight segregation head-on,

and then we step back.

Sue for equal schools,

and you're up against a little schoolboy.

Sue to desegregate, and you're challenging

the sovereign state of South Carolina.

If we limit our case to equal schools,

we end up in judge Waties Waring's court.

He's pretty good.

He can rule for equal schools by himself.

Thurgood,

if we challenge segregation head-on,

we challenge the state law,

and that would have to be heard

by a 3-judge court.

Tough going.

We can't let Delaine and his people down.

When we file our brief,

do we backtrack,

or do we challenge the principle of segregation?

We can go with a 2-string bow.

Put the challenge of segregation in

as a matter of principle,

but focus the attack on the inequality

of the Clarendon county school system.

Make them live up

to their precious "Separate but equal."

If we win this one,

we'll only have 11,172 school districts left.

This is a special time of the year...

and I have a surprise for you.

Guess who's coming to town.

Who?

Santa Claus.

Santa Claus! Ohh!

Here he comes.

Oh, ho ho ho!

Ho ho ho!

One for you...

and you and you...

Oh, ho ho ho!

Here you go, Santa.

Thank you.

Merry Christmas!

Here, Bobby.

Will you pass those out on wednesday?

Oh, ho ho ho!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Reverend.

J.A., I'll get right to it.

James Martin here is the new principal.

Where?

Well, right here. Scott's Branch.

The school board felt it was time for a change.

This will be your office, Martin.

Reverend Delaine will have it cleaned out

for you tomorrow morning.

# Round yon virgin

# Mother and child

# Holy infant

# So tender and mild

# Sleep in heavenly peace

# Sleep in heavenly peace #

You may all go home early.

Yay!

Here, reverend Delaine, I made something for you.

It's handsome.

You hurry on, now.

You have a long way to go.

Nice meeting you.

Yes, yes.

Heading south, Mr. Marshall?

Gladys Hampton, Mrs. Marshall.

Detroit advocate.

How do you do?

Clarendon county, right?

Just a little fishing trip.

Fishing for equal schools or something bigger?

Mr. Marshall, a lot of us who support the NAACP

hope you don't reach too far too fast.

We are going to be...

cautious,

Miss Hampton.

Well, in that case,

you can count on our support.

Good night.

Tiptoeing.

I'm not tiptoeing.

The hell you're not.

Go fast, go slow.

A lot of people are ready to cut me off

at the knees if I don't do it their way.

It's ok if I get dragged into the big war,

I just can't be the cause of it.

Sometimes I wonder whether god meant you

to be a lawyer or a politician.

Maybe he doesn't think there's that much

of a difference.

We see no reason why these charges

should not be dropped.

The schools provided for the plaintiffs

are fully adequate.

Mr. Marshall, you are prepared

to present evidence that the school facilities

for the plaintiffs are not equal

to those afforded white students?

We are, Your Honor. extensive evidence.

On page 17 of your brief,

you raise a different question.

"The separate schools cause continuing deprivation

"and harm to negro children

and should be discontinued."

Correct?

Eh, state constitution and laws of South Carolina

are clear on that.

Public education must be segregated by race.

The statute says any person

having 1/8 or more negro ancestry

shall attend colored schools. Correct?

Correct, Your Honor.

But if you ask

to discontinue separate schools,

you are challenging the legality

of the South Carolina statute

that separates education by race.

Our goal here is to get equal schools.

Mr. Marshall,

your brief raises the constitutional issue

of segregated schools,

so it must be addressed.

Court procedures prohibit a single judge

from declaring a state law to be in conflict

with the constitution of the United States.

For that, a 3-judge court is required.

If the court please,

the Plessy vs. Ferguson case,

decided by the supreme court

of the United States in 1896,

established the principle

of separate but equal.

Since then, the right of the states

to have laws separating the races

has been upheld 7 times by the supreme court.

Segregation is legal.

Now, there's no reason

to cover that ground again.

Mr. Marshall,

do you believe separation of schools

is consistent with the constitution

of the United States?

I do not, sir.

But for now,

we simply wish to obtain relief

for the children under the existing system.

We are asking for equal schools.

You have already taken the position, Mr. Marshall.

You climb up on that horse,

you can't climb back down.

I'll expect you to refile,

bringing the issue of school segregation

clearly before the 3-judge court.

Waring sure did box us in, didn't he?

We put it in the brief,

and he decided to hold our feet to the fire.

Sometimes history takes matters

into its own hands.

In the Chinese language,

the symbol for "Misfortune" is the same

as the symbol for "Opportunity."

let's make this our opportunity.

How could we prove that segregation

is unfair to our clients?

Harold,

what would you do if a car runs

into your client's car?

I'd try to prove damage

to my client and his car.

How, Harold?

I'd put expert witnesses on,

and they'd testify

as to how much damage was done.

Doctors, police,

auto mechanics, whatever.

That's what we have to do here.

Show that our clients are irreparably damaged

by being forced to attend these doghouse schools.

Their minds are what's damaged.

It isn't easy to prove something we can't see.

Thurgood...

Kenneth Clark.

Go to it.

Hello, Kenneth.

Good to see you.

Yeah. This is Thurgood Marshall.

All aboard!

What's the problem?

Maybe he doesn't like Charleston.

Let's pack it up, Dr. Clark,

and get outta here.

I have a court order from judge Waring.

All right, professor Clark.

You can go ahead with your experiments.

But court order or no court order,

you get your business finished in 2 days

and get on out of Clarendon county.

You hear?

Hello, Vernon.

Sit down.

Show me a white doll.

This one.

Now show me a colored doll.

That one.

Show me the doll that you like best.

That one.

And which doll is most like you?

That one.

All right, Anne,

show me a white doll.

Show me a colored doll.

Show me the doll that has a nice color.

Show me the doll

that looks ugly.

Show me a white doll.

Show me a negro doll.

Which doll is an ugly doll?

That one.

That's the nigger.

5.

Across the USA,

there was a rush at recruiting offices

as American Youth responded

to President Truman's call for volunteers.

The total number of GIS in Korea

will soon number 1/4 million.

American boys doing their share

in the struggle against the communist aggressor.

Bloody fighting will continue in a conflict

that will go far to determine

if freedom will triumph over slavery.

A new U.S. Army of defense

is adding up all their available power

for the mighty job ahead.

Unmasked and unconcerned

over criticism of recent terrorism,

South Carolina klansmen stage a rally

in Harley county tobacco land.

Weapons are conspicuously displayed

as the defiant ku klux klan meets in the wake

of reported shootings and whippings

by their nightriders.

Grand dragon Thomas Harding claims

there are now 4 million klan members

pledged to uphold white supremacy.

Across the state at the Charleston courthouse,

lawyers for the national association

for the advancement of colored people

have attacked the South Carolina law

that segregates schoolchildren by race.

A 3-judge federal court will hear the complaint

filed by parents of the colored children

at the Scott's Branch School.

Quiet up there.

The United States district court

for the eastern district of South Carolina

is now in session.

Judge John J. Parker presiding

with judge Waties Waring

and judge George Bell Telleman.

the plaintiffs call W.B. Springer.

You, Mr. Springer, are Clarendon's

superintendent of schools?

I am.

It is true, is it not,

that negroes in Clarendon county

attend one group of schools

and people who are not negroes

attend other schools?

That is true.

Why is that true?

I couldn't answer that exactly.

You'd have to ask the children

why none of them ever asked me

to go to one school or another.

Isn't it a fact

that you do it because of the state law?

It's the law-- separate but equal.

And you enforce the segregation law.

I do. I know nothing but the law.

Isn't it true

that you spend 3 times as much

on each white child's education

as each negro child?

We have 60-odd negro schools

and about a dozen white schools.

In the rural white schools,

we spend less than in the city white schools.

Is it not true

that you spend $179 on each white student

and $43 on each negro child?

If it please the court...

I wish to make a statement.

What is it, Mr. Tulley?

The defendants,

the school board of Clarendon county,

wish to concede that inequalities exist

in the schools of this district.

We have found this out

from investigating authorities.

Mr. Tulley, you can do that

when you make your opening statement.

Your honor, I thought if we were

to concede this point,

it would eliminate the need

for lengthy testimony to prove inequality.

When we discovered the inequality

in Summerton's colored schools,

governor Byrnes proposed legislation

for a state sales tax

that would generate $75 million

for school construction.

Now I have here architects' drawings

of proposed additions and improvements

to the Scott's Branch School.

Now, we urge the court

to allow the state reasonable time to--

Your honor...

what we see here is an attempt

by the defense to prevent us

from developing our case.

For us to prove

that South Carolina's segregation statutes

are unconstitutional,

we must be permitted to present evidence

showing that our clients

are damaged as a result of these laws.

We have gone to great expense

to bring expert witnesses here.

The state seems to be dealing

with the problem.

There's no need for us to be tied up here

listening to experts.

Isn't there a larger question before us?

Is the state's segregation law constitutional?

No, I--I think we ought to hear this evidence.

Uh, Mr. Marshall,

you may continue with your witnesses.

I am a social psychologist

and educator.

I have degrees from Howard University

and Columbia.

Is it true you conducted scientific measurements

in Clarendon county

to determine the effect of segregation

on negro schoolchildren?

Yes.

I can't hear the man.

Speak up, Mr. Clark.

Please describe, Dr. Clark,

the results of your investigation.

when negro children were asked

to choose between white dolls

and the brown dolls

and to say which doll was the nice doll,

65% said the white doll was the nice doll.

Every one of our tests

shows an unmistakable preference

for the white doll

and a rejection of the brown doll.

These children in Clarendon county,

like other human beings

who have been subjected to an obviously inferior status,

have been irreparably harmed.

The result is a confusion

in the child's concept of his own self-esteem.

This leads to a desire

to resolve this basic conflict

by withdrawing.

Do you believe this policy of segregation

has any effect on the white children?

Yes.

It causes moral confusion.

The child who is part of the segregating group

sees the same people

who teach him democracy, brotherhood,

love of his fellow man

also teach him to segregate and discriminate.

Your witness, Mr. Tulley.

Dr. Clark,

how many white children were in your classroom

when you went to school?

None.

Has anyone ever described you

as inferior?

No more questions.

Legal segregation of education

is the single strongest factor

in causing harmful effects

on the physical, emotional, and the financial status

of the negro child.

How does this happen, Dr. Critch?

The state harms an individual

when it sets him apart

because of the color of his skin.

Legal segregation causes the negro

to feel that he is different

and inferior to the white man.

Your testimony is that

it can cause a false feeling

of inferiority.

The sad thing is that the white man

has reason for his prejudice.

Our studies have shown

that the negro is inferior to the white man.

We have seen--

Doctor,

are you saying

uh, there are biological differences

between negro people and white people?

No, sir.

I know of no psychologist who would maintain

that there is a fundamental biological difference.

What I am saying

is that the negro can become inferior

because of the practices of segregation

and their consequences.

Are you saying

that segregation can cause permanent damage

to the individual?

I am, sir.

I have no further questions.

Professor Critch...

are you a native of the state

of South Carolina?

No, sir.

You ever live in one of the states

that has legal segregation?

No, sir.

Has your legal name always been Critch?

No, sir.

And what was your name originally, sir?

Critevski.

Were you born in the United States

of America?

No, sir.

Where, in fact, were you born?

I was born in Poland.

No further questions.

Mr. Crowe, would you describe the position

to which governor Byrnes recently appointed you?

I am director

of the South Carolina state

educational finance commission.

Your responsibility?

I'm in charge of the new program

to make colored schools equal to white schools.

We expect an appropriation of $75 million.

And what have you got

for the schools in Clarendon county?

Sir, we've allocated $500,000

to Clarendon county alone.

Mr. Crowe,

when will these new facilities

be ready for the children?

We hope some will be ready

by the beginning

of the next school year.

Your honor...

the 14th amendment

to the constitution of the United States,

an amendment ratified in 1868

by all the states, including South Carolina,

guarantees rights in the present,

not at some time in the future.

The court's familiar

with the constitution, Mr. Marshall.

Mr. Crowe is talking about remedies

that are in the future.

The court's action may depend

on whether the state is making good faith efforts

to improve the condition of these people.

Go on, Mr. Tulley.

do you think it would be a mistake

to force children to attend racially mixed schools?

I don't think

you could keep things peaceful.

So you believe that

mixing the races would make the situation worse.

In my opinion, it would cause chaos,

lead to the elimination of public schools

in most, if not all,

the counties of the state.

Thank you.

Mr. Crowe, Mr. Crowe...

this...

new...

state commission

of yours...

are there any negroes on it?

No.

Are there any negroes

employed by your commission?

No, sir.

Mr. Crowe, how much study have you done

on the question of racial tension?

I have observed conditions and people in South Carolina

all my life,

but I haven't studied racial tensions as such.

Then how do you draw your conclusions

as to what would happen if the schools are mixed?

Because I know what people say.

You are speaking of white people.

Mainly.

You say

the public schools will be eliminated

if integration were ordered.

They would be abandoned.

You believe that white people

would abandon their schools

if forced to integrate?

Yes.

You think white people

would deprive their own children

of an education.

I didn't say they'd do that.

You said they would abandon the schools.

Maybe I misunderstood you.

I don't think

the legislature would continue

to appropriate money for public schools

if segregation is eliminated.

Do you think you are qualified to testify

as to what the legislature of South Carolina will do

in the future?

I know what people say.

You know there has been peaceful integration

in certain graduate schools

elsewhere in the deep south.

That's a different matter.

Those were older people,

and just a very few, I might add.

Indiana has outlawed segregation entirely.

The ratio between the races is very different in Indiana.

Suppose the ratio here

was 95% white and 5% negro.

Would that cause you to change your opinion?

It would not.

Then the ratio of negroes

has nothing to do with it.

Your opinion is based on the fact

that you have all your life believed

in the segregation of the races.

That is the real basis of your opinion,

isn't it?

That wouldn't be all.

Would that be part of it?

I suppose that would be part of it.

Thank you, sir, Mr. Crowe.

Mr. Tulley, you may make your final argument.

Your honors will remember

that the very same congress

that passed the 14th amendment in 1868

also passed the law

that set up segregated schools

in Washington, D.C.

Now, since then,

17 state legislatures have passed laws

requiring segregation in public schools.

Now, this practice of separate but equal

has been repeatedly upheld

by the supreme court of the United States,

most notably in a unanimous decision in 1927

by a court which included

former president William Howard Taft

as the chief justice

and such distinguished associates

as Louis Brandeis and Oliver Wendell Holmes.

It cannot be persuasively argued

that these great american jurists,

the Congress of the United States,

and the 17 state legislatures

were acting in ignorance of the constitution

or knowingly defying its meaning

over so long a period.

Segregation is legal in education,

so long as it's equal.

Mr. Tulley, you have come here

and admitted

the facilities are not equal.

Now the law does call for equality,

does it not?

Isn't the surest way to achieve equality

to admit the colored children

to the superior white schools?

No, sir.

The problems of race, if your honor pleases,

will not be solved by force,

but rather by the slow process

of community experience and mutual good will,

and any ruling by this court must take into account the fact

that school facilities cannot be built overnight.

All we're asking is time.

There is no factual dispute before this court.

Negro schools are conceded to be unequal.

What is at issue is the law.

Yes,

separate but equal has been the law of the land

for many years,

but the supreme court has ended segregation

in southern graduate schools

without any negative consequences.

This is progressive development of the law.

in South Carolina,

all the state officials are white.

All the school officials are white.

This is not just segregation.

This is exclusion...

from the group that runs everything.

The negro child is made to go

to an inferior school.

He is branded in his own mind

as inferior,

which sets up in his mind

a roadblock that prevents him

from ever feeling he is equal.

you can teach such a child citizenship.

You can teach such a child the constitution.

but he knows that for him, it isn't true.

Your Honor,

we have shown

that lasting damage is done the negro children

every day that Clarendon county

operates its school system in violation of the law.

The defense...

asks for time...

time for the slow process of community experience.

I know of no statute

that allows anyone to walk into court

and ask for time

to stop doing something which is unlawful.

If the negro children of Clarendon county

are entitled to any rights as american citizens,

they are entitled to those rights now,

not at some time in the future.

Now is the time for the court to act.

God bless you, Mr. Marshall.

Thank you, sir.

Have you decided?

Just a second.

I mean... about the school case.

Well, I've decided one thing.

Everybody around here does a lot of talking

about the negro problem,

but what we have is a white problem.

How will the court rule?

Judge Parker's the one

you're gonna have to keep your eye on.

He's a little cagey--

Oh!

Stand back.

Stay on the north side of fleeting street.

You colored people, stay on the sidewalk.

"When separate schools are maintained

"for negroes and whites,

"educational facilities and opportunities

"must be equal.

"The defendants have admitted

"that such facilities for colored pupils

"in school district number 22

"are not equal.

"The plaintiffs are entitled to a mandatory injunction

"requiring equal facilities

"be afforded the colored children.

"The plaintiffs also ask that we order

"that negroes be admitted to white schools.

"The court believes that

"one of the great virtues of our constitutional system

"is that it leaves to the states

"the solution of local problems.

"It is well settled by the supreme court

"that there is no denial

"of equal protection of the laws

"in segregating children

"if the children are given equal facilities.

"Therefore, an injunction to abolish segregation

is denied."

Judge Waring?

I had hoped that this court would take the view

that there must be no suppression

of the rights of any of our citizens

because of their skins,

and I had hoped that this court

would have made a clear-cut declaration

that the state of South Carolina

should follow the meaning

of the constitution of the United States

and not deny equal protection.

But since the majority of this court feels otherwise...

I dissent.

The plaintiffs have shown courage

in presenting this case

in the face of the age-old pattern

of the way of life practiced in South Carolina

since and as a result

of the institution of human slavery.

It has been shown here

that the humiliation to young children

of being set aside as unfit to associate

with others of different color

has had an evil and warping effect

which will remain with them forever.

Despite the ruling

of the majority of this court,

segregation can never produce equality.

It is an evil...

that must be eradicated.

Thank you, Mr. Marshall.

Thank you, Mr. Carter.

Good-bye, Harry.

Bye, sir.

I want to say good-bye to you.

I want to say good-bye to you.

And I wanna say

if you ever show your black ass

in Clarendon county again, you're a dead man.

Stay on the sidewalk.

Keep him, lord.

Stay behind the barricade.

You know, J.A.,

sometimes I get very weary

trying to save the white man's soul.

Thurgood, that court just told

the people of the United States of America

that segregation is legal.

We got a whole damn mountain to climb.

Did you see Dr. Levitt?

Yes.

Good.

Did he get you sorted out?

It's a cancer.

They have treatment.

He's very good.

I'll stay home with you.

Mm-mmm.

Home with you is where I belong.

No.

Carter, Greenberg, and hill, they can carry on.

Thurgood, I've thought about this.

Since our first days at Harvard Law School,

when they wouldn't even let you apply

to the University of Maryland,

one thing has been

at the center of our lives.

I want you to carry on with your work,

our work.

I do not want to discuss it.

# You're the sweetest guy that I've seen... #

Get everybody in here.

The damn winos broke in again

and stole all our typewriters.

And we didn't get any paychecks again.

I wish they would steal the radio.

Gladys Hampton, the Detroit advocate--

she wants to know what you're going to say

to the negro educators tomorrow night.

You see her editorial?

No.

"This defeat should give pause

"to the NAACP strategists,

"for it only strengthens

"the Plessy vs. Ferguson doctrine

"of separate but equal.

"The welfare of the negro people

"should not be the exclusive province

of a handful of lawyers."

Greenberg!

You talk to this newspaper woman.

I can't.

I got a woman on the phone in Norfolk.

The police have had her boy locked up

for six months

for stealing a bag of peanuts.

Get everybody in the back room.

Bob, where are we

on the school case in Topeka?

We take the brown case to court next week.

We getting anywhere in Virginia?

If driving 300 miles every week on bumpy roads

is getting somewhere.

I was in Prince Edward yesterday.

Those kids are as brave as I've seen,

but you know how tough

Virginia's going to be, Thurgood.

What about Delaware, Jack?

Got superior expert witnesses.

Judge Sykes is tough but he's fair.

And Washington, D.C.?

Jim Nabrick is going his own way.

He's challenging segregation head-on.

No reference at all

to making separate schools equal.

Bob, I want you to prepare

an appeal on the Clarendon case.

I want it ready just in case we decide

to go to the supreme court.

In case?

Thurgood, we have got to go.

Look, we all know what's right and what's just.

I'm worried about the timing.

Chief Justice Vinson and the current lineup

of justices on the court

leave a lot of questions.

And may I tell you guys something else?

We are way out in front of our constituency.

We have got to decide something.

Jack.

Were you able to help that lady in Norfolk?

Turns out that bag of peanuts the boy took...

was one of those 100-pound burlap bags.

He also stole the truck the bag was in.

I have decided to bring

the mountain to Muhammad.

There are many of us across the country

who are convinced you are in error.

We are very concerned about the leadership

of the NAACP.

Against the advice of many of us,

you decided to make a bare-bones challenge

to the legality of segregation

in South Carolina,

and you got a bare-bones answer.

You went for a home run and struck out.

the favorable supreme court decisions

in the graduate school cases

show us the path to success.

By working within the Plessy decision

and using separate but equal,

we can win cases.

And with each victory,

many children's lives become better.

Mr. Marshall, my great fear

is that you will take the South Carolina case

to the supreme court.

It's one thing to lose in South Carolina,

quite another to lose in the supreme court.

We should be pursuing

equality in public schools,

a goal within our reach.

Do you believe there is such a thing

as separate equality?

I am not in favor of separate anything,

but I want to win.

There are those who believe that if we don't

challenge the legality of segregation head-on,

we will continue to get the same thing

we have been getting all these years--

separate, but never equal.

But to do that is to put at risk

all of the progress that we have made.

Unfortunately, Miss Hampton,

there are no easy answers.

Everything we do...

involves risk.

Mr. Davis' office. good morning.

Yes.

I see.

I'll inquire as to Mr. Davis' availability.

Just a moment.

Uh, Mr. Davis.

Governor Byrnes' secretary

is calling long distance

from South Carolina.

The governor would like to come to New York

to meet with you.

Tell the lady I would welcome

seeing my old friend the governor.

Oh, and, uh, suggest to her

that he escape the southern summer

and join me on Long Island for the weekend.

Yes, sir.

Hi there!

Jimmy.

I see you've renewed your acquaintance with Julia.

Yes, and a handsome daughter you have, John.

Your mother would be proud.

How about some iced tea?

Or perhaps something a bit stronger?

Well, iced tea would be fine.

When Jimmy and I were a couple of young boys

in congress in Washington,

his preference for drinking...

was a little bolder.

Well, 30 years changes a man.

For the collection, Julia.

Your father's genius has made him

an unpopular figure in certain high places

in Washington.

Thank you, Jimmy.

Always pleased to be perceived as a genius.

"Mr. Chalmers Roberts says,

"Seldom has a courtroom sat

"in such silent admiration

for a lawyer at the bar."

The law...

the law was on our side.

You were a master for it.

You pinned the government's ears back.

I'm still just a country lawyer at heart,

a skilled technician.

Lawyers don't do very much anyway.

They don't build, they don't erect,

they don't paint anything.

All they do is lubricate the wheels of society.

John...

I am up here to ask for your help

on behalf of the south you love.

The Clarendon county school case

has become a problem.

The NAACP seems to be

keeping you folks on your toes, huh?

Well, I'm prepared to confess to past sins.

Some of our schools are a disgrace.

We're going to spend $75 million

to bring those schools up to snuff.

We will live up to the equal in separate but equal.

But an order to integrate our schools

coming down from Washington

would cause chaos.

You can't ask people to change overnight.

Feelings run too deep.

The case may go before the supreme court.

Well, surely, the NAACP must know

that the supreme court is not likely

to give them the decision they want.

You have to be prepared.

You've done great service at the bar

for your country.

Your talents may be required once more.

Jim, I've argued 138 cases in that court.

This case could be

more important than any of the others--

more important than any case of our generation.

It challenges the right of the states

to make their own laws.

John...

if this case goes to the supreme court,

I'm going to need you.

Oh, my god.

Fire! You and the children get out of the house!

The place is on fire!

Everybody get out.

Come on, come on! Hurry!

Get out! Come on, come on, come on!

Go right to the pump.

Get a bucket.

Hurry, Joseph. Go on, go on!

Come on, son. That's right.

Go ahead! Go ahead! That's right.

Run, boy, run!

Come on, come on! Run, run!

Hose down the roof!

Come on, we'll help them

with the hoses.

Real sorry, reverend.

But the district line is here.

We don't have authority to cross over it.

You'll have to get the Scott's Branch unit

to come help you.

I don't care about the Scott's Branch line!

My house is burning down!

You've got to stop it!

Let's go, Boyd.

Hello.

Wife and children ok?

Thank you.

Bastards.

I'm sorry, ma'am, but there's no more room.

I'm expected. I'm Mr. Marshall's wife.

There's a great deal to be said

for separate negro schools.

Is this not better than making our boys and girls

like doormats to be trampled and spit upon

and called niggers?

I say it's time we stop peering

through white schoolhouse windows

like orphans at christmas eve.

Let us make our schools equal and excellent.

The courts can be counted on

to give us equal schools,

but they cannot be counted on

for desegregation.

We don't know that.

The only way to find out

is to ask the supreme court.

Now, what troubles me is,

what will they do when we ask them

to either repudiate or reaffirm the plessy decision

and separate but equal?

That's what many of us have been saying all along.

The NAACP should not be reaching for glory.

If Mr. Marshall takes us to the supreme court

at the wrong time,

he is taking us over a cliff,

provoking a negative ruling

that could last another generation.

Wait a minute.

Let me ask a question.

Law students,

how many of you went to segregated schools?

Segregated colleges?

Segregated law schools?

Here we are,

citizens of the United States of America.

How can we continue to tolerate a segregated society?

We must attack segregation head-on.

Mr. Marshall, I know I speak for many of us.

Let's not risk the setback

that a negative supreme court ruling

would represent.

Let's push hard in the lower courts.

We can win victories

and gain more credibility for our cause,

and we won't come up empty.

Can...

I promise you success?

Is that the question?

Can I promise you victory?

The answer is no.

But...

do you want...

to continue dancing to the tunes

of the Jimmy Byrneses of the world?

Do you wish to wait

for the great leaders of the south

to decide when it is time

to grant democracy's rights

to your children's children...

or to their children's children?

This...

is 1952!

300 years...

since our forefathers and mothers

were brought to this land...

as cargo on slave ships.

Nearly 100 years...

since the emancipation proclamation.

If...

there is a problem about community attitudes

and getting people to obey the law,

let the supreme court worry about it.

Let the supreme court take the blame

if it dares to say to the rest of the world,

"Yes, american democracy rests

on a legalized caste system."

the NAACP has taken a decision

to fight, to strike down segregation,

and we will go

where we said we will go.

Let the supreme court decide.

You know the difference between doctors and lawyers?

Doctors can bury their mistakes.

Good morning, father.

Dearest Julia.

You're busy.

Oh, I'm never too busy for you.

Now, tell me.

To what do I owe this happy surprise?

I've been thinking.

Father, I don't think

that you should take the segregation case.

And why is that?

I think that times are changing,

and times will have to change in the south, too.

Times are always changing, Julia.

If you take the case,

it will appear that you are against the negro.

I treasure this.

"To John W. Davis from a grateful people,

"for his efforts

"in fighting the cause of human rights

"for the negroes of West Virginia

and the nation."

Sudden integration could turn out to be

the worst thing for the cause of the negro.

Even if true, that is not a very popular position.

Oh, nonsense, Julia.

I've defended giant corporations.

And I defended Eugene V. Debs,

socialist labor leader,

charged with inciting a riot

at a coal miners' strike.

In West Virginia.

Alger Hiss, Bob Oppenheimer--

popular?

In 50 years, I've never taken a case

because it was popular or unpopular.

I choose my cases based on the law.

The law guides me.

What kind of law is this?

The framers of the constitution

understood correctly

that the greatest protection

for human freedom

was local autonomy--

the government close to the people.

This case challenges

the right of the states

to make and enforce their own laws.

If segregation is to be outlawed,

it must be done by an act of congress

or an amendment to the constitution.

I believe it's wrong

for nine men in Washington

to tell a man in South Carolina

who his daughter ought to

sit next to in school.

I'm going to take this case, Julia,

and I'm going to win it.