Five African-American children had been placed in special classes for the "educable mentally retarded", based on low IQ test scores.
The case was filed by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Legal Defense fund.
The case was initially filed in 1971, as a class-action on behalf of six African-American students in the San Francisco School District.
On June 20, 1972, a preliminary injunction was issued forbidding the use of IQ tests by the San Francisco School District to place African-American students in special education.
[6][5][7][8] After Crawford v. Honig, the California Department of Education issued memoranda in 1992 and 1997 stating that the prohibition on IQ tests for African-American students would still be followed.