On this day, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Sipuel v. Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma that states must provide equal educational opportunities to Black students. The case was brought by Ada Lois Sipuel, a young Black woman who had been denied admission to the University of Oklahoma’s law school solely because of her race.

The Court unanimously held that the state must provide legal education for African Americans that was equal to that provided for white students. This ruling was a significant early step in the dismantling of segregation in higher education, paving the way for Brown v. Board of Education just a few years later.

Sipuel’s courageous stand and the Court’s decision became a landmark moment in the struggle for civil rights and educational equity in the United States.