Vera Swann Power of Attorney

Attorney Julius Chambers filed a lawsuit in North Carolina district court against Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools on behalf of ten African American families. The plaintiffs alleged in the original Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education complaint (named for six-year-old James E. Swann) that the school system intentionally ensured that schools would continue to be segregated by race through its assignment policies, in spite of Brown v. Board of Education. The case made its way to the Supreme Court, which determined that district courts has broad powers to actively take measures, such as through school assignments and busing, to desegregate schools.