Made aware that the children of free Negroes in Norfolk lacked any significant educational opportunity, she and her daughter Rosa had begun providing literary instruction in their home in June 1852 for a dollar a month.
On the morning of May 9, 1853, city constables arrived with a warrant for the ladies' arrests. Margaret, Rosa and 25 frightened children were brought before Mayor Simon Stubbs, who explained the charge.
Mrs. Douglas knew that Virginia law prohibited teaching the children of slaves, but all of her pupils were born to free parents. The mayor's interpretation was more inclusive, but he accepted her statutory ignorance and dismissed the case.
A militant grand jury took up the cause and indicted Margaret and Rosa Douglas for unlawfully teaching Negro children to read and write. The case was heard Nov. 2, 1853 by Judge Richard Baker and a jury of 12 white men.
Appearing pro se, without disputing the facts, Margaret called herself "a strong advocate for the religious and moral instruction of the whole human family" and called for "consideration by every true and noble heart of the welfare of our people."
She pleaded that she had violated no law embodied in "the Divine Decalogue," and said she would be "only a single sufferer under one of the most inhuman and unjust laws that ever digressed the statute books of a civilized community."
The jury is overruled
Margaret's defense resonated morally with the jurors, but the law was the law and it had been broken. The jury found her guilty, but recommended a token fine of one dollar.
But Judge Baker found the sentence insufficient for such a "manifestly mischievous" affront. He stated in the record: "It is not true that our slaves cannot be taught religious and moral duty without being able to read the Bible and use the pen."
Baker rationalized the Virginia code with the suggestion that uneducated slaves in the South were enjoying "a great and happy change in their condition" through "residence among a Christian people."
The judge concluded that "anti-slavery nonsense" subverted "the feeling and ignorance of our Negroes, who would have remained comfortable and happy."
He sentenced Margaret Douglas to 30 days in jail, which she served without complaint as "a sufficient companion for myself."
The road to equality
The 1857 Supreme Court opinion in Dred Scott v. Sandford, that slaves were the constitutionally protected property of their masters, was trumped in 1863 by Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation and again in 1865 by ratification of the 13th Amendment, which prohibited slavery.
Liberty was granted in the letter of the law, but the pursuit of opportunity remained stifled, particularly in the realm of education. Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896 upheld discrimination as long as the separated facilities were ostensibly equal.
Fifty-eight years went by before the court revisited Plessy and found, in Brown v. Board of Education, that the hypocrisy of "separate but equal" has no place in public education.
In her dank Norfolk prison cell a century earlier, Margaret Douglas would have been more justifiably proud if she could have foretold the 1954 ruling. For her, there was joy in the journey.
"Nobody told me the road would be easy" is a refrain from the gospel song, "I Don't Feel No Ways Tired," that became a civil rights movement anthem during the 1960s. Some destinations have been reached, but there are still miles to go.
Past president nears election to ABA board
Peoria attorney Timothy L. Bertschy, who was president of the Illinois State Bar Association in 1998-99, is the only candidate for an impending vacancy on the American Bar Association Board of Governors.
A partner in Heyl, Royster, Voelker & Allen, Bertschy is expected to succeed Leslie W. Jacobs of Ohio, whose three-year term will expire at the end of the ABA annual meeting in August.
A member of the ABA House of Delegates since 1995, Bertschy also is president of the Lawyers' Assistance Program and chair of the Illinois Coalition for Equal Justice.
Illinois attorneys who have served on the ABA board in recent years are ISBA past presidents Richard L. Thies of Urbana and Donald C. Schiller of Chicago, and Chicago Bar Association past president Thomas Hayward.
Currently the at-large Illinois state delegate to the ABA House of Delegates, Thies will step down in 2005. Another ISBA past president, Cheryl I. Niro of Chicago, has announced her candidacy to succeed Thies.
Thies will be installed in August as chair of the ABA Senior Lawyers Division. He plans to conduct a division board meeting this fall in Chicago.
Annual Meeting award deadlines approach
Deadlines are nearing for submission of nominations for several ISBA awards that will be presented Friday, June 18, at a luncheon during the Annual Meeting at The Abbey on Lake Geneva. Summaries follow.
John C. McAndrews Pro Bono Service Awards
A deadline of Monday, March 1, has been set for nominations of candidates for John C. McAndrews Pro Bono Service Awards to be received by the ISBA Legal Department at the Illinois Bar Center in Springfield.
Nomination forms and statements of criteria for each of the three categories individual lawyers, law firms and bar associations may be obtained from by calling the Legal Department at (800) 252-8908.
The awards have given since 1994 to recognize extraordinary programs and commitments of significant time and effort to provide pro bono representation for those who need access to justice but cannot afford it.
Austin Fleming Award for Newsletter Editors
Nominations are due Monday, March 15, for the Austin Fleming Newsletter Editors Award that honors outstanding past and present editors of ISBA section and committee newsletters. The award is given only when meritorious service is demonstrated.
Criteria are length of tenure as editor or co-editor, quality of writing and editing, importance of subject matter to the audience, and reputation of nominee in the practice area.
To obtain a nomination form and additional information, call Katie Underwood at (800) 252-8908. Completed forms should be sent to the Illinois Bar Center in Springfield.
Law Student Division Public Service Award
From a group consisting of an outstanding law student nominated by each ISBA affiliated school, one finalist will be selected to receive the ISBA Law Student Division Public Service Award. The deadline for entries is Friday, April 16.
Criteria include extracurricular accomplishments and participation in activities that enhance professional responsibility and provide service to the public. Applicants must be members in good standing of the Law Student Division.
Travel and lodging expenses of the recipient to attend the Annual Meeting will be reimbursed, and he or she will be able to designate a law-related, not-for-profit organization to receive a $250 contribution. Each finalist will receive a plaque.
Nomination forms are available at the law schools, or may be obtained by calling Phyllis Lester at (312) 726-8775. Entries should be sent to Janet M. Sosin in the ISBA Chicago Regional Office.
General Practice Section Tradition of Excellence
All licensed Illinois lawyers and judges are eligible for the General Practice, Solo and Small Firm Section's annual Tradition of Excellence Award. Detailed nomination letters and supporting information may be submitted by individuals, law firms and bar associations.
Criteria include distinguished law practice, leadership in continuing legal education and public service to the community that enhances the standing of general practitioners.
Friday, April 30, is the deadline for nomination letters and attachments to be received by Janet M. Sosin in the ISBA Chicago Regional Office. To obtain a list of required information, call Phyllis Lester at (312) 726-8775.
Register now for Fred Lane trial classes
New students may still register for the spring semester of Fred Lane's Trial Technique Institute, which began Feb. 10 in the ISBA Chicago Regional Office. The nine-month course covers 54 hours of instruction in 90-minute sessions beginning at 5:15 p.m. each Tuesday.
In addition to ISBA past president Fred Lane, who has donated his renowned curriculum to the state bar association, and Scott D. Lane, a member of the Tort Law and the Civil Practice and Procedure Section Councils, several guest lecturers have joined the faculty.
They are Philip H. Corboy of Corboy & Demetrio; Robert Clifford of the Clifford Law Offices; Kevin T. Martin of Swanson, Martin & Bell; Joseph A. Power of Power, Rogers & Smith; Pamela L. Gellen of Lowis & Gellen; Andrew Kopon Jr. of Cremer, Kopon, Shaughnessy & Spina, and Appellate Justice Michael J. Gallagher.
To register, call the ISBA office at (312) 726-8775. The fees are $875 for ISBA members and $925 for non-members.
Downstate school litigation preceded 1954 Brown ruling
In the fall of 1950, as the NAACP and a group of lawyers in Topeka, Kansas, were implementing a strategy to persuade public school officials to integrate their schools, an identical plan was unfolding in the southern Illinois city of Harrisburg.
In both cities, a group of African-American parents took their children to the elementary school for white children that was nearest to their homes. Once they were denied enrollment, they reported back to the NAACP. Class action lawsuits against school authorities were then filed.
Similarities end there, however, as school officials in the two cities reacted differently in the face of the federal court actions. Topeka resisted and the parties took the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, resulting in the landmark Brown v. Board decision on May 17, 1954.
Harrisburg school officials hired local counsel who moved fairly quickly to negotiate a settlement that called for a phase-out of the all-black grade school in Harrisburg.
Differences in Kansas and Illinois school law may explain the different outcomes. While Kansas law did not require segregated public schools at the elementary level, Illinois law specifically prohibited segregation of students because of race, creed, or color.
Even in the 1950s, state funds made up a large part of the operating budgets of local schools, and the threat of losing state dollars was a powerful incentive.
By March 22, 1951, when the parents of Linda Brown and other black students in Topeka filed their court action, the Harrisburg lawsuit had been filed in federal court for the Eastern District of Illinois at Danville, and a preliminary hearing had been held March 9 before Judge Casper S. Platt.
Here is the story of how one Illinois school district and a pioneering lawyer from Chicago, George N. Leighton, ended decades of segregated education.
'No children of ours would attend a segregated school'
By David N. Anderson
Raymond Johnson began selling barbecued meat out of a caboose parked along U.S. Route 45 in downstate Harrisburg in the 1940s.
On the walls of his tiny business were autographed publicity photos of the most recognizable black musicians and entertainers of the day Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Cab Calloway - who had pulled off the road to enjoy his distinctively flavored barbecue and his hospitality.
Ray's Barbecue was a haven for black citizens traveling between Chicago to New Orleans. Ray was African-American, but he served black and white customers alike.
Many restaurants along the busy highway refused to serve blacks. Seven miles up the road from Ray's, billboards on the edge of a small neighboring town warned, "Darkies, don't let the sun set on you here."
Across Route 45 and three blocks up Walnut Street stood Abraham Lincoln School, the "separate but equal" institution that educated Harrisburg's African-American grade schoolers.
Separate schools for black children were common across much of Illinois at the midpoint of the 20th century, even though the state's Distributive School Fund Law provided for withholding funds from school districts that practiced racial segregation.
Kenneth and Cleatus Garnett had been educated at Lincoln School, and went on to graduate from Harrisburg's integrated high school in 1935.
"When we were married, I made a vow that no children of ours would be forced to attend a segregated school," Kenneth said. The Garnetts made good on the promise when their son, Alex, was set to attend kindergarten in 1950.
"On the first day of school in September, we went to Horace Mann School to register our son," said Cleatus Garnett. "We told them it's the law that we're not supposed to go past a school to get to another school."
School officials reacted with uncertainty, telling the handful of black parents who had tried to register their children at neighborhood schools that they were unprepared to accept these children.
The children were sent home; their admissions were neither accepted nor denied, pending study by school officials. Soon, 21 Lincoln students boycotted classes in an attempt to force the school board to act.
Kenneth Garnett recalls that there had been much discussion, and a lot of controversy, among African-American parents about Lincoln School.
Finding parents willing to challenge the white establishment in the city of 18,000 was difficult. "Some parents who had white employers felt their jobs might be threatened if they joined us," he said.
There also was considerable loyalty to Lincoln School on the part of many black families. An all-black grade school had existed in Harrisburg since 1884.
One group of parents of Lincoln School students asked the school board to maintain the separate school, fearing minority status and the loss of racial identity at other schools.
Still, the reality of "separate but equal" education at Lincoln included hand-me-down textbooks from the other schools in the district.
"The principal and the teachers were always fighting to get current books for us," said Kenneth Garnett. "We had bad leftovers that had been marked up and with pages missing."
Students in all eight grades at Lincoln were grouped in four classrooms, resembling the arrangement at rural one-room schools of half a century earlier. The white schools had separate classrooms for each grade level.
Another unusual feature of Lincoln School was its playground: Busy railroad tracks ran alongside it.
"When I told the judge that the kids had to quit playing ball when the train came through the schoolyard, an injunction issued immediately," recalls Chicago attorney George N. Leighton, who represented black parents in their federal lawsuit against the Harrisburg School District.
Leighton recalls that Horace Mann School, which was closest to where most black families lived in Harrisburg, had much better facilities than Lincoln, a two-story brick structure built in 1911.
Leighton, now a retired federal judge, was establishing his practice when Nelson M. Willis, a lawyer who headed the Chicago branch of the NAACP, approached him with the request for help from parents in Harrisburg, 330 miles south of Chicago.
Leighton made the trip down U.S. 45 to Harrisburg in September 1950, and he met with parents to discuss their legal options.
The first decision was to form a parents' committee to meet with school officials to try to resolve the conflict. The second decision was to bring suit if a satisfactory resolution was not reached.