Although African Americans first sued (unsuccessfully) to stop mandated
racially segregated education in 1849, in the case Roberts v. City
of Boston, the successful lawsuits known as Brown v. Board of Education
were the culmination of a litigation strategy initiated in the 1930's.
Charles Hamilton Houston, Dean of Howard University's Law School,
is recognized as the chief architect of the NAACP's legal strategy
for racial equality. Lawsuits on the long road to Brown included:
