| Student: Troy Williams
Case Study: Jackson v. State
Mentor: Jamal Booker
Mr. Williams introduces us to this case study with the beefy contention that this very case put down the grounds for a national precedent. "Baltimore's ordinance prompted the nation, for the first time," he maintained, "to examine its position on Blacks and Whites engaging one another in the private arena of property interests," using Jackson v. State on a national front, drawing the relationship between the case and America's segregation/integration deliberations. He says, "The Maryland case of Jackson v. State played an integral part in the development of a social and legal movement that resulted in the Supreme Court's 1917 decision - abolishing government ordinances promoting racial segregation in residential communities."
The timeline that is the blueprint of this study has good background information to start the body of the argument, with the subject matter of housing segregation, (or the lack thereof), earlier than 1911 in Baltimore. Mr. Williams incorporates the Black departure from the south with the next date in the line covering the migration and poverty, which equals the rise of crime, then Whites leaving the mixed residential areas. Next, he ties in the Black Yale graduate George W. McMehan's decision to move into an upscale neighborhood in Baltimore, and the reactions and the legislation (following). All of these events are very good buildup in that stretch of time preceding Jackson v. State. Lastly, the Gurry case challenging Baltimore law was the last main thrust. Mr. Williams reiterates his local-national focus, writing, "By the mid-summer of 1914, the movement against racial segregation had moved beyond the point of grassroots organizing and transformed into a well-focused national strategy."
There was ample material referenced from various sources, few at MSA. The Court of Appeals brief was used, as well as Lexis, the African American Ledger, and a Baltimore City Ordinance that I got from a Baltimore City source. He validates his argument with the impact of the litigation: "Jackson v. State's claim to legal notoriety is as one case, in a line of cases, that represented the victorious culmination of a local and national battle for social equality.
|
