One day some three years ago, 24-year-old Lloyd L. Gaines, Negro, bearing a diploma from Missouri's Lincoln University (for Negroes), presented himself at University of Missouri, surprised its officials by proposing to enter their Law School. In its 96 years, the university had never admitted a Negro. Like all Southern States, Missouri makes Negroes and whites attend separate schools.
More forehanded, however, than most Southern States, which make no provision for Negroes' professional education, Missouri had provided scholarships in northern law schools for Negroes. Missouri officials offered Gaines such a scholarship. Gaines refused...