The Alton School Fight

Milinn Graser
Civic Memorial High School, Bethalto

The new twentieth century held promises for many but not always African Americans caught in the throes of slavery and its aftermath. By 1900 many blacks had left the war-torn South and moved North in order to fulfill those promises, settling and seemingly integrating into various southern Illinois communities. However, just below the surface, separation of the races was still a paramount problem that blurred the promises, even in the Land of Lincoln. This article describes their frustration with segregated education in Alton.

Segregation in Illinois schools had been outlawed in the state's School Laws Acts of 1872 and 1874. By the 1890s many African Americans had risen to become skilled tradesmen and farmers. However, in 1897, Alton's Mayor Harry Brueggeman, the city council, and the board of education decided to prohibit black children from entering all public schools up to the eighth grade and to supply separate schools for their education. These leaders had the Frederick Douglass and the Elijah Lovejoy schools built for this purpose. The African American community was disgusted and rallied to the cause. They petitioned the Illinois Supreme Court, which led to the filing of the lawsuit, The

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Arguments over school integration took place in Alton City Hall, pictured at the center of this photo.

People, of the State of Illinois, ex rel., Scott Bibb v. The Mayor and Common Council of the City of Alton. The black community organized the Alton Citizens Committee and also utilized sit-ins and a boycott to protest the segregation. Forming other committees facilitated fund raising and unifying the community's support. Not only did funds come from within Alton black society, but money and support also trickled in through donations from groups in Decatur, Illinois, and St. Paul, Minnesota, churches in Chicago, and individuals from other Illinois towns.

The petition to the Illinois Supreme Court was filed in the name of Scott Bibb. Bibb sued the city to allow the admittance of his two children, Minnie and Ambrose, to attend Washington School, which was within two blocks of their home and where they had attended school the previous year, rather than the nearest all-black school located fourteen blocks from their home. The African Americans of Alton hired white attorneys General John M. Palmer and Colonel John J. Brenholt to present their case. Aged and in poor health, Palmer died in the early stages of the case, leaving Brenholt to persist in the prosecution of the case for its eleven-year duration. Throughout the proceedings, the defendants were represented by eight different lawyers and the city councilor. The case was tried by jury seven times and went through five appeals to the Illinois Supreme Court. The first jury's verdict was in favor of the mayor and city but was dismissed because of a mistake in the admission of evidence that harmed the prosecution's case. The second and third trials were also ruled in favor of the respondents. The second was dismissed due to an error of the court. The third verdict was set aside because it was in direct and obvious conflict with the facts presented and the respondents' guilt proven at trial. Finally, in the fifth appeal in 1908, the Illinois Supreme Court ordered the integration of the Alton schools.

Perhaps even more frustrating than the injustice of the segregation was the mayor and city council's reaction to the supreme court decision. They refused to integrate the schools, insisting that the decision applied not to all children, but solely to Minnie and Ambrose Bibb. When the 1908-1909 school session began, fifteen-year-old Minnie Bibb was placed in the third grade class at Washington School. Not only was she the only African American student in the school, she was also nearly twice the age of her classmates. Minnie dropped out after only a few weeks. Thus, the Alton public elementary schools continued to be segregated and remained so for another fifty years. Despite the ineffectiveness of the Supreme Court ruling in integrating the schools, the Alton School Fight had a profound effect on Alton's African American community. The black population was almost totally Republican as were the mayor and the majority of the council members of Alton. This case caused blacks to question their support of the Republican Party. The case also portrayed the importance of race over the importance of law. The strength of prejudice and popular opinion outweighed even the law. After the Alton School Case, blacks were discouraged and disappointed with the Illinois governmental system. The law and the judicial system proved just, but was not powerful enough to rise above popular sentiment and corrupt leadership. It was a new century but an old truth for blacks in the Alton community as the promise of equality and integration was not to be part of the realities of 1900.-[From Shirley Portwood, The Alton School Case and the African American Community; W. T. Norton, Centennial History of Madison County, Illinois, and Its People.]

50 ILLINOIS HISTORY/APRIL 2001