Research Catalog

A matter of black and white : the autobiography of Ada Lois Sipuel Fisher

Title
A matter of black and white : the autobiography of Ada Lois Sipuel Fisher / by Ada Lois Sipuel Fisher with Danney Goble ; foreword by Robert Henry.
Author
Fisher, Ada Lois Sipuel, 1924-1995
Publication
  • Norman : University of Oklahoma Press, 1996.
  • ©1996

Items in the Library & Off-site

Filter by

1 Item

StatusFormatAccessCall NumberItem Location
Book/TextUse in library Sc D 22-97Schomburg Center - Research & Reference

Details

Additional Authors
Goble, Danney, 1946-2007
Description
xix, 204 pages : illustrations; 22 cm
Summary
A Matter of Black and White is the personal story of an Oklahoma woman whose fight to gain an education formed a crucial episode in the civil rights movement. Born in Chickasha, Oklahoma, of parents only one generation removed from slavery, Ada Lois Sipuel Fisher became the plaintiff in a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case that laid the foundation for the eventual desegregation of schools (and much else) in America. When Oklahoma gained statehood in 1907, the first bill passed by the legislature called for the segregation of the state's public schools and universities. No one successfully challenged segregation until 1946, when Ada Lois Sipuel, a recent graduate of all-black Langston University, applied for admission to the all-white University of Oklahoma law school. Because Oklahoma had no segregated law school for blacks, she argued, the state's official policy of "separate but equal" education was illusory. Her simple act of applying to a white law school touched off a fire storm of controversy. At its center was a fierce legal battle waged by NAACP lawyers, including Thurgood Marshall. Fisher's autobiography reflects much of the history of American blacks and whites and of their changing relationships through this century. It is also the history of family and community life in a small southern town during years of legal segregation, racial discrimination, and economic depression. The people of this remarkable family and community did more than endure in trying times - they triumphed.
Subject
  • Fisher, Ada Lois Sipuel, 1924-1995
  • African Americans > Oklahoma > Biography
  • Civil rights workers > Oklahoma > Biography
  • African Americans > Civil rights > Oklahoma
  • African Americans > Race identity > Oklahoma
  • Black people > Civil rights > Oklahoma
  • White people > Civil rights > Oklahoma
  • White people > United States > Attitudes
  • African Americans
  • African Americans > Civil rights
  • Civil rights workers
  • Race relations
  • Oklahoma > Race relations
  • Oklahoma
Genre/Form
  • Autobiographies.
  • Biographies.
Note
  • Includes index.
Contents
List of Illustrations -- Foreword / Robert Henry -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Genesis: My Parents -- Growing Up in Grady's New South -- Separate but Equal -- If It Please the Court -- ... and Others Similarly Situated -- The Stone -- Chronology -- List of Contributors -- Index.
Call Number
Sc D 22-97
ISBN
  • 0806128194
  • 9780806128191
LCCN
95038775
OCLC
33103475
Author
Fisher, Ada Lois Sipuel, 1924-1995, author.
Title
A matter of black and white : the autobiography of Ada Lois Sipuel Fisher / by Ada Lois Sipuel Fisher with Danney Goble ; foreword by Robert Henry.
Publisher
Norman : University of Oklahoma Press, 1996.
Copyright Date
©1996
Type of Content
text
Type of Medium
unmediated
Type of Carrier
volume
Local Note
Schomburg copy with dust jacket.
Local Subject
Black author.
Added Author
Goble, Danney, 1946-2007, writer of foreword.
Research Call Number
Sc D 22-97
View in Legacy Catalog