Carson v. Board of Education of McDowell County

• Decision Date: 01 December 1955
• Docket Number: No. 7096.,7096.
• Citation: 227 F.2d 789
• Parties: Lionel C. CARSON, an infant, by his next friend, Martin A. Carson, et als., Appellants, v. BOARD OF EDUCATION OF McDOWELL COUNTY, a body corporate, Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit

227 F.2d 789 (1955)

Lionel C. CARSON, an infant, by his next friend, Martin A. Carson, et als., Appellants, v. BOARD OF EDUCATION OF McDOWELL COUNTY, a body corporate, Appellee.

No. 7096.

United States Court of Appeals Fourth Circuit.

Argued November 16, 1955.

Decided December 1, 1955.

Samuel S. Mitchell and Herman L. Taylor, Raleigh, N. C. (Taylor & Mitchell, Raleigh, N. C., on brief), for appellants.

Roy W. Davis, Marion, N. C. (Roy W. Davis, Jr., Marion, N. C., on brief), for appellee.

Before PARKER, Chief Judge, and SOPER and DOBIE, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM.

This is an appeal from an order dismissing an action brought by certain Negro children to enjoin alleged discrimination against them in the administration of the schools of McDowell County, North Carolina. The complaint alleged that the plaintiffs were not allowed to attend schools maintained by defendants for white children in the town of Old Fort in McDowell County but were required to go to a school in Marion fifteen miles away and that this discrimination was made solely on account of race and color. The complaint was filed prior to the decision of the Supreme Court in the school segregation case, Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483, 74 S.Ct. 686, 98 L. Ed. 873, and one of the prayers for relief was that defendants be required to provide for plaintiffs in the town of Old Fort educational facilities equal to those provided for white children. There was a general prayer for injunctive relief against discrimination, however, as well as a prayer for a declaratory judgment establishing the rights of plaintiffs in the premises. The District Judge dismissed the action on the ground that the decision of the Supreme Court had made inappropriate the relief prayed for in the complaint.

While the decision of the Supreme Court unquestionably made inappropriate the relief asked as to the provision of a separate school for Negro children in the town of Old Fort, the same cannot be said as to the other relief asked in the complaint. Discrimination on account of race and color was alleged with respect to the right to attend schools in Old Fort and the removal of this discrimination as well as the declaration of the rights of plaintiffs was asked. The decision of the Supreme Court did not destroy or restrict these rights, except with respect to the right to separate schools, and plaintiffs were entitled to have their prayers for declaratory judgment as well as for general injunctive relief considered in the light of the Supreme Court decision. The decision appealed from must be vacated, therefore, and the case remanded to the District Court in order that this may be done.

In further consideration of the case, however, the District Judge should give consideration not merely to the decision of the Supreme Court but also to subsequent legislation of the State of North Carolina providing an administrative remedy for persons who feel aggrieved with respect to their enrollment in the public schools of the state. The Act of March 30, 1955, entitled "An Act to Provide for the Enrollment of Pupils in Public Schools", being chapter 366 of the Public Laws of North Carolina of the Session of 1955, provides for enrollment by the county and city boards of education of school children applying for admission to schools, and authorizes the boards to adopt rules and regulations with regard thereto. It further provides for application to and...