NAACP Legal Defense and
Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) Princeton Committee
About
LDF in Princeton
The NAACP Legal
Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) is America's oldest civil rights
organization devoted to securing equal justice for all. LDF was founded in 1940
under the direction of Thurgood Marshall, who later became Associate Justice of
the U.S. Supreme Court. LDF has been a separate entity from the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People since 1957. The Legal Defense
Fund, under Thurgood Marshall's leadership, argued and won the landmark 1954
Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education--the school desegregation
case that put an end to the "separate but equal" doctrine of
government discrimination. The Princeton Committee of the LDF supports the work
of the LDF with an annual fundraising reception and programs in Princeton's
public schools. http://www.naacpldf.org/
About the
Video Produced by the Princeton Committee
In 1948, six years
before Brown v. Board of Education, Princeton integrated its elementary schools
by means of what has come to be called the Princeton Plan, and at its 1998
reception, held at the Institute for Advanced Study, the Princeton Committee
commemorated this fiftieth anniversary. In preparation, four members of the
Princeton Committee consulted administrators, teachers, parents and students
who had participated in the integration process. The responses reflected a wide
range of viewpoints, some positive, some not so positive. A brief history was
included in the program, and Shirley Satterfield, who was a second grader in
1948, spoke of her experiences when the schools were integrated.
Some of the
recollections were so vivid and revealing that the Committee asked the four
members to produce a video to present a true picture of the "Princeton
Plan." The video, completed in the spring of 1999, is entitled The
Princeton Plan: 50 Years Later. It uses filmed interviews to document the past,
in the hope of providing guideposts to the best solutions for the future.
How to Get a Copy of
"The Princeton Plan 50 Years Later"
· Borrow a copy from the Princeton Public
Library.
· Pick up a copy for $10 at 64 Harris Road.
(Call Fannie Floyd first at 609-921-8429.)
· Order a copy by mail. Send a check for $13
made out to Princeton Committee/LDF to
Judy Schoenstein, 26 Harriet Drive,
Princeton, NJ 08540.
For
questions, write, e-mail or call Ellen Seiler:
376 Jefferson Road, Princeton, NJ 08540
609-921-6237