Biography

Charles Hamilton Houston

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An older man wearing a suit and tie sits at a desk with a stack of papers in front of him and a pen in his hand looks sternly into the camera.
Half-Length Portrait of Charles H. Houston , 1939.
Source: Library of Congress

As the first general counsel of NAACP, Charles Hamilton Houston laid the groundwork and established the legal strategy that ultimately led to the Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board to end school segregation. According to the NAACP, Houston earned the moniker “The Man Who Killed Jim Crow.” Houston served in World War I as a First Lieutenant for a segregated U.S. Army. Houston enrolled in Harvard Law School after the war and was admitted to the District of Columbia bar. Houston became the dean of the Howard University Law School and mentored a generation of young Black lawyers, including Thurgood Marshall. Houston came up with the legal strategy to end segregation; they needed to prove to the courts that separate was inherently unequal.

Featured in

  • Black‑and‑white photograph of a classroom filled with young students seated at wooden desks. Many students have one arm raised, as if responding to a question. In the foreground, one student sits at a desk facing the camera while others behind and to the sides raise their hands. The room includes a chalkboard or bulletin board along the back wall with several papers pinned up, a doorway at center-right, and large windows on the right side letting in light. Books and classroom materials are stacked near some desks, and the overall setting suggests an older, traditional schoolroom.

    Lesson Plan

    Separate & Unequal: Investigating the Road to Brown v. Board

    Students explore Investigation Stations to better understand the pivotal Brown v. Board of Education case that recognized the human and civil rights of all students by declaring school segregation unconstitutional.

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