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Kenneth ClarkKenneth Clark
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Session:         Page of 763

Clark:

The burden of the case is that the state must now--I kid the lawyers, I said, “Now what we're really asking for is Plessey ‘plus', 'separate but superior'.” They laughed. They said, “Well, that's where we had to come to in view of the fact that the courts would not permit the inter-districting.” It is a fact that the whites have moved away from the public schools in Richmond and moved into the surrounding districts and in to private schools.

Q:

How did you evaluate the judge's attitude as he questioned you?

Clark:

Very positive. Judge [ ] Maresh, who gave the first decision in 1971, 1972 that was reversed. Maresh found, as a matter of fact, the continuation of damage in the segregated schools in Richmond, and if I remember correctly he ordered re-districting. The Federal Court of Appeals, in the Fourth District, reversed him.

Q:

Maresh is white, isn't he?

Clark:

Oh, yes. Very delightful sense of humor, but serious. In fact, his decision, in being specific about the educational and psychological damage, was such that I didn't have to add a thing to it. I think I practically said so.

Q:

What were the circumstances of their contacting you and asking you to testify?





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