A. P. Tureaud

Alexander Pierre Tureaud (February 26, 1899 – January 22, 1972) was the attorney for the New Orleans chapter of the NAACP during the civil rights movement.

Biography

Education

A.P. Tureaud was born in the 7th Ward of New Orleans. His family consisted of black creoles, and Tureaud could apparently pass as white, an ability occasionally used to his advantage in the segregated South. Rachel Lorraine Emanuel and Denise Barkis-Richter. Louisiana Public Broadcasting. " [http://www.lpb.org/programs/journey/aboutap.html Journey for Justice: The A.P. Tureaud Story.] " ] Saint Augustine Church, Faubourg Tremé, New Orleans. " [http://www.staugustinecatholicchurch-neworleans.org/turead.htm Alexander Pierre Tureaud: Civil Rights Attorney (1899 – 1972).] ]

He moved to Chicago in 1916, where he worked as a laborer at a rail yard. He moved to New York City in 1918, and briefly worked as a dishwasher. He eventually moved to Washington, D.C., where he found a job as a junior clerk in the library of the United States Department of Justice, which also serves the United States Supreme Court. While employed as a library clerk, he attended night school at St. John's College in Annapolis, Maryland.

Tureaud enrolled at the law school at Howard University in Washington, D.C., in 1921. He joined the NAACP in 1922. Tureaud was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha, the first intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity established for African Americans. [ Wesley 1981, "op. cit.", pp. 225.] He graduated from Howard in 1925.

He returned to New Orleans in 1926 and accepted a government position at the Comptroller of Customs for the Port of Orleans. He married Lucille Dejoie, a pharmacist, in 1931.

From 1937-1947, Tureaud was the only black practicing attorney in the State of Louisiana. He was active in the Republican Party until the 1950s. ["Alexander Pierre Tureaud", "A Dictionary of Louisiana Biography", Vol. 2 (1988), pp. 800-801)]

The Civil Rights Movement

In 1940, the NAACP in New Orleans summoned the legendary litigator Thurgood Marshall to represent it in the case of "Joseph P. McKelpin v. Orleans Parish School Board". The case was initiated by black teachers from the segregated public school system, who had sued the school board for salaries equal to their white counterparts. Marshall retained Tureaud as local counsel on the case. The case was settled out of court on September 1, 1942, and black teachers were offered a graduated pay increase over the next two years. Donald E. Devore and Joseph Logsdon. " [http://www.amazon.com/dp/0940984660 Crescent City Schools.] " Jul. 1991. ISBN 0-940984-66-0. Pages 235-236. ] "Times-Picayune". Sep. 3. 1942. ]

That year, Tureaud resigned his post at the Customs Office and entered private practice. For the next thirty years, he represented plaintiffs on dozens of significant cases, which gradually chipped away at the institution of segregation in New Orleans and Louisiana.

In 1950 and 1951, he represented plaintiffs in "Daryle Foster v. Board of Supervisors of LSU", "Roy Wilson v. Board of Supervisors of LSU", and "Payne v. LSU" in federal court. He won all three cases and forced LSU to admit blacks.

He represented the NAACP in "Edward Hall v. T. J. Nagel, Registrar of Voters" in 1952, which eliminated voting procedures designed to exclude blacks from voting.

He represented parents in "Earl Benjamin Bush v. Orleans Parish School Board" in February 1956, which echoed the earlier Supreme Court decision, "Brown v. Topeka Board of Education", 347 U.S. 483, of 1954 May 17. The decision from that case, rendered by Federal District Judge J. Skelly Wright, suppressed the Louisiana state legislature's attempt to preserve segregated public schools through legislation. Tureaud's many petitions following this decision led directly to the desegregation of New Orleans Public Schools over the next decade. Devore and Logsdon. " [http://www.amazon.com/dp/0940984660 Crescent City Schools.] " Pages 232-236. ] U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. "Bush v. Orleans Parish School Board". 138 Federal Supplement, Page 336, 341-342. ]

As the civil rights movement intensified throughout the South, he took the case of three students in Baton Rouge, who had been arrested for disturbing the peace during a sit-in protest. With the support of Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP, Tureaud took "Garner v. Louisiana", 368 U.S. 157, to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled in favor of the plaintiffs on 1961 Dec. 11. The decision legalized sit-in protests at segregated private businesses and restaurants. [http://www.supremecourtus.gov/ The United States Supreme Court.] Justia.com [http://supreme.justia.com/us/368/157/ Garner v. Louisiana.] ]

He represented a white woman attempting to enter the historically black Grambling State University in 1965. He represented teachers from Madison Parish in "Linda Williams v. George Kimbrough" in 1969, who had been fired and replaced by white teachers. That same year, he won "Dana Hubbard v. Fred Tannehill", which banned text books from Louisiana public schools which supported white racial superiority. The defendant Tannehill of Pineville was the president of the Louisiana State Board of Education.

He filed formal complaints and multiple lawsuits against City Hall in New Orleans to desegregate City Park, Audubon Park, public buses, the New Orleans Airport restaurant, and other public facilities.

Legacy

The magnitude of Tureaud's contribution to the civil rights movement in Louisiana cannot be understated. New Orleans was one of the most segregated cities in the nation when the movement began. The "Plessy v. Ferguson" case, 163 U.S. 537, of 1896, began in the New Orleans court system. This was the United States Supreme Court decision which legitimized segregationist laws in the court system. http://www.amazon.com/dp/0826514839/ Black, White, And Catholic: New Orleans Interracialism, 1947-1956.] " 2005 Oct. 30. ISBN 0-8265-1483-9. ]

Tureaud retired in 1971. He died in New Orleans at the age of 73. His papers are archived at the [http://www.amistadresearchcenter.org/aboutarc.htm Amistad Research Center,] at Tilton Hall on the campus of Tulane University. London Ave., a thoroughfare in New Orleans, was renamed A.P. Tureaud Ave. in his honor. Marie C. Couvent School at 2021 Pauger Street was renamed after him in 1999.

Sources

References

* Rachel Lorraine Emanuel and Denise Barkis-Richter. Louisiana Public Broadcasting. " [http://www.lpb.org/programs/journey/aboutap.html Journey for Justice: The A.P. Tureaud Story.] "

* Saint Augustine Church, Fauborg Treme, New Orleans. " [http://www.staugustinecatholicchurch-neworleans.org/turead.htm Alexander Pierre Tureaud: Civil Rights Attorney (1899 – 1972).]

* New Orleans Public Library System. " [http://nutrias.org/~nopl/info/aarcinfo/notabl2.htm#tureaud Notable African Americans from Louisiana.] "

* Donald E. Devore and Joseph Logsdon. " [http://www.amazon.com/dp/0940984660 Crescent City Schools.] " 1991 Jul. ISBN 0-940984-66-0. Chapters VI and VII.

*