Group portrait [NAACP lawyers with Esther McCready and others]

Group portrait [NAACP lawyers with Esther McCready and others], 1950. Paul Henderson, HEN.02.07-019.

Although fully qualified, Esther McCready (third from left) was denied admission to the University of Maryland School of Nursing solely because of her skin color. Seen here with her attorneys, Thurgood Marshall (fourth from left) and Donald Gaines Murray (second from right), McCready sued the university for admission based on the argument that she was not provided “equal protection under the law” (McCready v. Byrd, 1949) and forced to pursue her education out-of-state where Blacks were accepted while her white counterparts were being trained in state. On April 14, 1950, the Maryland Court of Appeals ruled in McCready’s favor. More information about those pictured below.

Image information:

Group portrait [NAACP lawyers with Esther McCready and others]
1950
Paul Henderson, 1899-1988
4 in. x 5 in. acetate negative
Paul Henderson Photograph Collection, HEN.02.07-019
Maryland Historical Society

1. Unknown
2. Unknown
3. Esther McCready (Nursing school)
4. Harry A. Cole (Legal counsel)
5. Thurgood Marshall (Legal counsel)
6. Linwood G. Koger (Legal counsel)
7. Unknown
8. Donald Stewart (School of Medicine)
9. Hiram Whittle (Engineering)
10. Richard Tyson (Pharmacy)
11. Earl Koger (Legal counsel)
12. James “Biddy” Woods”
13. Donald Gaines Murray (Legal counsel)
14. Parren Mitchell (Sociology)

 

Ms. McCready was a special guest at the program that accompanied the Paul Henderson exhibition opening (February 23, 2012):

Esther McCready (third from left) speaking about her experience at the panel discussion, Seen & Heard: Maryland’s Civil Rights Era in Photographs and Oral Histories.