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Quest for Equality: Louis Kerr versus The Enoch Pratt Free Library

Quest for Equality: Louis Kerr versus The Enoch Pratt Free Library. By Lisa M. Boyd Consumer Health Librarian NN/LM National Network Office National Library of Medicine, NIH. Judicial Decisions. Librarian Training Program Louis Kerr v. Enoch Pratt Free Library 1945

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Quest for Equality: Louis Kerr versus The Enoch Pratt Free Library

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  1. Quest for Equality:Louis KerrversusThe Enoch Pratt Free Library By Lisa M. Boyd Consumer Health Librarian NN/LM National Network Office National Library of Medicine, NIH

  2. Judicial Decisions • Librarian Training Program • Louis Kerr v. Enoch Pratt Free Library 1945 • Public Graduate Education • Sweatt v. Painter 1950 • McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents 1950 • All Public Education • Brown v. Board of Education 1954

  3. "Way Up South"

  4. Photo Courtesy of U.S. Army Signal Corps

  5. Courtesy of the National Library of Medicine

  6. Louise Lyles Kerr • Baltimorean • 27 Years old in 1943 • High School, Normal School & University of Pennsylvania • Elementary School Teacher • Aspired to be a Librarian

  7. Enoch Pratt Free Library Training Program • 9 Month program • Professional training for librarians • Graduates employed by Pratt Library • Over 200 Black applicants rejected • “…unnecessary and unpractical to admit colored persons…”

  8. Enoch Pratt Free Library Beginnings Enoch Pratt Central Library on Mulberry Street 1886

  9. Black Assistant Librarians 1943 & 1944 • Pitcher Street Branch • Iona Wood Collins • Hampton University • Thelma L. Thomas • Hartford, Connecticut • Alma Long Bell • Appointed Head , 1944 • Clark Atlanta University

  10. Pratt Library Staff • 1943 • 150 Senior & Junior Assistant Librarians • Main Library • 26 Branches • 2 Black Junior Librarians • Black Neighborhood Branches

  11. Lillie May Carroll Jackson President, NAACP Baltimore City Chapter 1935 - 1970

  12. Charles Hamilton Houston • 1895 - 1950 • Education: • Amherst College 1915 • Valedictorian • Harvard Law School 1923 • cum laude • Harvard Law Review • Dean, Howard University School of Law 1929- 1935 • 1931 ABA accreditation • Association of American Law Schools • Counsel for NAACP 1935-1940 • Architect of Civil Rights legal strategies

  13. Fourteenth Amendment Section 1: ____________ • “All persons born…in the United States…are citizens...” • “No State…shall abridge the privileges…of citizens…” • “…nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law,…”

  14. Thurgood Marshall • 1908 - 1993 • Education: • Lincoln University 1930 • Howard University School of Law 1933 • Career: • NAACP Attorney, Baltimore Branch 1934-36 • Chief Counsel, NAACP 1936-61 • Brown vs. Board of Education 1954 • US Court of Appeals, Second Circuit 1961-65 • Solicitor General 1965-67 • Associate Justice, US Supreme Court 1967-91

  15. Brown v. Board of Education 1954 • Ended legalized segregation of public schools • “separate but equal” {Plessy v. Ferguson 1896} overturned

  16. Louise Kerr verus Enoch Pratt Free Library Lawsuit • Violation of 14th Amendment • $60,000 in damages • Joined by T. Henderson Kerr • Father of Louise • Pharmacist • Tax Payer • $5,000 in damages

  17. Louise Kerr vs Enoch Pratt Free Library • Defendants: • Pratt Library • Nine Trustees • Librarian • Mayor of Baltimore • City Council of Baltimore • Defendants’ Lawyers • Harry N. Baetjer • Allen A. Davis

  18. March 7, 1944 Enoch Pratt Free Library Victorious • Judge W. Calvin Chestnut ruled: • Pratt Library • Private corporation • Not bound by 14th Amendment • No intent to discriminate

  19. April 17, 1945 Kerr & NAACP Victorious • Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals • Judge Morris Ames Soper wrote: • Pratt Library • Public Agency of the State of Maryland • Violated 14th Amendment

  20. Life After Verdict • Wheeler resigned • Resolution rescinded • Training program opened to all • Pass then employed by Library

  21. The Kerr Principle Don Herzog, University of Michigan at Ann Arbor Law School Michigan Law Review, Vol. 105, October 2006

  22. Epilogue Louise Lyles Kerr-Hines • March 15, 1916 – April 9, 2007 • Education: • Douglass High School 1934 • Coppin Normal School 1937 • Married C. Morsell Hines 1946 • Career: • Elementary School Teacher • NAACP Office Secretary • Afro AmericanNewspaper Reporter • MD Department of Human Resources – Retired 1978 • Life Member of NAACP

  23. Thank You! • Ms. Louis Lyles Kerr-Hines • Ms. Iona Wood Collins • Ms. Thelma L. Thomas • Ms. Alma Long Bell

  24. THANK YOU ! ! ! E-Mail: boydl@mail.nlm.nih.gov

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