Why Heman Sweatt Sued The University Of Texas

University of Texas, Arlington campus
Via Wikimedia Commons
Emeka Ochiagha
July 14, 2021

The Texas judge finally gave his decision. Heman Sweatt had sued the University of Texas Law School for denying him admission because of the state’s segregation law. 

But instead of overruling the law, the judge ordered that Texas should instead just quickly create an all-Black Law School! Heman Sweatt was NOT satisfied. Why?

A makeshift institution that had to be thrown together in six months? And that was supposed to be equal? That wouldn’t do.  

Sweatt, with the help of the NAACP, took the case all the way to the United States Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court agreed that there was not a truly equal option for Black law students in Texas, and that Sweatt wouldn't be able to find a substantial educational opportunity elsewhere. He’d won!

On September 19, 1950, Sweatt registered at the University of Texas Law School. And he wasn’t done yet: for the rest of life, he was active in the struggle against racial discrimination.

Sweatt knew his worth and refused to settle for the sub-standard alternatives an anti-Black system knows aren’t “equal.” We should follow his lead and never accept the crumbs America throws at us!

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