The case led to the formal desegregation of New Jersey public schools and was a precursor to Brown v. Board of Education.
In contrast, the New Jersey State Constitution was amended to outlaw racially-motivated discrimination or segregation in public schools.
[4] By contrast, white and East Asian students were assigned to elementary and junior high schools based on where they lived.
[6] Insufficient space forced some junior high students to attend classes in laboratory rooms rather than dedicated classrooms,[6] and there were few vocational or commercial courses available.
[11] A significant number of students lacked transportation and were faced with long walks, even in bad weather.
[1] In 1943, after Leon and Janet completed sixth grade, the two students were assigned to attend the New Lincoln School.
[3] Williams and Hedgepeth both took to the Board of Education, where they were told by superintendent Paul Loser that the children would need to attend the New Lincoln School until the transfer requests were processed.
[6][11] When Williams and Hedgepeth asked Loser about the transfer requests, they were told that even though the Board had held a meeting on September 2, they had taken "no action" on them.
[8] By September 16, both mothers had filed independent lawsuits against the Trenton Board of Education, alleging racial discrimination.
[1] Both plaintiffs were represented by attorney Robert Queen, a key member of the local NAACP who had been instrumental in desegregating the pool at Trenton Central High School in 1932.
[9] Hedgepeth, Williams, and Queen first took the suit to the Trenton District Court, where the case was declined.
[6][3] The New Lincoln School, he pointed out, had no established zoning boundaries and enrolled students on the basis of race, whereas Junior High No.
[5] Bellville testified that while the board had met on September 2, they had not discussed the families' transfer requests, which was reflected in the meeting minutes.
[16] When Hartmann testified before the court, he repeated much of Loser's claims, adding that the district's elementary schools were not racially segregated.
[9] The New Jersey Supreme Court unanimously ruled in favor of Hedgepeth and Williams on January 31, 1944.
[18][19] In an opinion penned by Justice Porter, the Court stated: The sole question presented is the legal right of the respondent to refuse these children admission in the school nearest their residences.
It is unlawful for Boards of Education to exclude children from any public school on the ground that they are of the negro race.
[11] Integration became more proactive after the New Jersey Supreme Court case Booker v. Plainfield (45 N.J. 161 1965), which ruled that schools could not use any rationale to segregate students due to the resulting psychological harm.
[12] In the decades following the decision, many white families left Trenton, causing the city to become significantly more segregated.