But if Houston insisted that Plessy be enforced that is, if the NAACP sued a state to make its schools for black children equal to those for whites which Plessy did require then he could undermine segregation. (Jomills Henry Braddock. A Long-Term View of School Desegregation: Some Recent Studies of Graduates as Adults. Phi Delta Kappan. 259-61. 1984)

He reasoned that states would either have to build new schools for blacks something they could not afford or admit them into white schools. If the Court agreed with his argument, then he could challenge segregation itself. Houston decided that the NAACP had to carefully pick cases that they stood a good chance on winning. Those cases would then establish a precedent that "would make plain the inequality" in the educational opportunities of blacks and whites. Houston was convinced that the battle for civil rights had to be won in the schools,...
[ View Full Essay]