Mapp v. Board of Education of City of Chattanooga, 14444
| Decision Date | 13 November 1961 |
| Docket Number | No. 14444,14517.,14444 |
| Citation | 295 F.2d 617 |
| Parties | James Jonathan MAPP et al., Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. BOARD OF EDUCATION OF the CITY OF CHATTANOOGA, HAMILTON COUNTY, TENNESSEE et al., Defendants-Appellants. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit |
Raymond B. Witt, Jr., Chattanooga, Tenn., for defendants-appellants, Witt, Gaither, Abernathy, Caldwell & Wilson, Chattanooga, Tenn., on the brief.
James M. Nabrit, III, New York City, for plaintiffs-appellees, Z. Alexander Looby, Avon Williams, Jr., Nashville, Tenn., Thurgood Marshall, Constance Baker Motley, New York City, on the brief.
Before MILLER, Chief Judge, and WEICK and O'SULLIVAN, Circuit Judges.
These two appeals are from orders of the District Court entered in a proceeding to compel racial desegregation of the public schools in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
In the first appeal, No. 14,444, it is contended that the District Court erred in granting plaintiff's motion for summary judgment and in ordering the Board of Education to file a plan for desegregation of the schools. The Board did file a plan in compliance with the order of the Court.
In the second appeal, No. 14,517, complaint is made about the order of the District Court which tentatively rejected as insufficient the plan for desegregation filed by the Board of Education and required the Board to file an alternate plan. The Court reserved the right of the Board to a reconsideration of the first plan as it is or as amended. The Board complied with the Court's order and filed an alternate plan which is not involved in these appeals.
There was no genuine dispute over the facts in the first appeal. Admissions were made in the answers filed by the defendants to the complaint and also in depositions taken of the Superintendent of Schools and the members of the Board of Education. It was not controverted that the Board has pursued a policy of operating a biracial school system; that the system was established almost a century ago and has been continued by the members of the present Board. Although more than five years have elapsed since the Supreme Court held racial segregation in the public schools to be a violation of constitutional rights1 no plan for desegregation had been adopted by the Board until ordered by the Court.
The Board contends that after the second Brown decision it publicly announced its policy of compliance with the decision and engaged in extensive educational activities to elucidate said policy to the people of the community in order to bring about public acceptance of desegregation. It claims that these activities constituted the first step in its plan of implementation of said policy. It asserts that it had not adopted any plan for desegregation because the people in the community were not ready for it and would not accept it.
The District Court, in a memorandum opinion, gave careful consideration to these contentions. The Court held that the activities of the Board were not a sufficient start toward compliance with the decisions of the Supreme Court in the two Brown cases and in Cooper v. Aaron, 258 U.S. 1, 78 S.Ct. 1401, 3 L.Ed.2d 5; that the reasons advanced by the Board did not constitute any defense to the...
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Mapp v. BOARD OF EDUCATION OF CITY OF CHATTANOOGA, TENN
...for summary judgment and rejecting the Board's first plan. We sustained the District Court's orders. Mapp v. Board of Education of City of Chattanooga, 6 Cir., 295 F.2d 617 (1961). Further hearings were conducted with the Board submitting successive plans, until the judgment or decree here ......
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Mapp v. BOARD OF EDUCATION OF CITY OF CHATTANOOGA, Civ. A. No. 3564.
...February 27, 1967), 6 Cir., 373 F.2d 75. All other matters heretofore ruled on by this Court have been affirmed upon appeal. See 295 F.2d 617 (1961) and 319 F.2d 571 (1963). At the time of the remand there was one other matter pending before the Court. The plaintiffs had filed objections to......
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Mapp v. BOARD OF EDUCATION OF CITY OF CHATTANOOGA, TENN., Civ. A. No. 3564.
...heretofore been granted and appellate review of that relief has been had upon three prior occasions. See Mapp v. Board of Education of City of Chattanooga, D.C., 295 F.2d 617 (1961); D.C., 203 F.Supp. 843 (1962); 6 Cir., 319 F.2d 571 (1963); 6 Cir., 373 F.2d 75 (1967); D.C., 274 F. Supp. 45......
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Mapp v. BOARD OF EDUCATION OF CITY OF CHATTANOOGA, TENN.
...desegregation, both parties have prosecuted appeals to this Court involving various features of the plan and its administration. See 295 F.2d 617 (1961) and 319 F.2d 571 The present appeal stems from plaintiffs' motion for further relief, filed March 29, 1965. At that time the School System......