Sweatt v. Painter

E17504

United States Supreme Court case desegregation case landmark civil rights case

Sweatt v. Painter was a landmark 1950 U.S. Supreme Court case that challenged racial segregation in higher education and helped lay the groundwork for Brown v. Board of Education.

Try in SPARQL Jump to: Surface forms Disambiguation Statements Elicitation Referenced by

All labels observed (6)

Label	Occurrences
Sweatt v. Painter canonical	12
U.S. Supreme Court decision Sweatt v. Painter (1950)	2
Heman Marion Sweatt v. Theophilus S. Painter, et al.	1
Heman Sweatt was ordered admitted to the University of Texas Law School	1
University of Texas Law School excluded Black applicants	1
plaintiff in Sweatt v. Painter	1

How this entity was disambiguated

This entity first appeared as the object of triple T84541 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.

NED1 Entity disambiguation (via context triple) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Sweatt v. Painter
Context triple: [Thurgood Marshall, notableWork, Sweatt v. Painter]

A. Browder v. Gayle
Browder v. Gayle was the landmark 1956 federal court case that declared bus segregation in Montgomery, Alabama unconstitutional, effectively ending the Montgomery bus boycott and striking a major blow against Jim Crow laws.
B. Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County
Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County was a landmark civil rights case challenging racial segregation in Virginia’s public schools that became one of the five cases consolidated into the U.S. Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education decision.
C. Smith v. Allwright
Smith v. Allwright was a landmark 1944 U.S. Supreme Court case that struck down racially exclusive primary elections, significantly advancing African American voting rights.
D. Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education is the landmark 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision that declared racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional, overturning the “separate but equal” doctrine.
E. Katzenbach v. McClung
Katzenbach v. McClung is a 1964 U.S. Supreme Court case that upheld the federal government’s power to prohibit racial discrimination in local restaurants under the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
F. None of above. chosen
G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.

NED2 Entity disambiguation (via description) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Sweatt v. Painter
Target entity description: Sweatt v. Painter was a landmark 1950 U.S. Supreme Court case that challenged racial segregation in higher education and helped lay the groundwork for Brown v. Board of Education.

A. Browder v. Gayle
Browder v. Gayle was the landmark 1956 federal court case that declared bus segregation in Montgomery, Alabama unconstitutional, effectively ending the Montgomery bus boycott and striking a major blow against Jim Crow laws.
B. Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County
Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County was a landmark civil rights case challenging racial segregation in Virginia’s public schools that became one of the five cases consolidated into the U.S. Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education decision.
C. Smith v. Allwright
Smith v. Allwright was a landmark 1944 U.S. Supreme Court case that struck down racially exclusive primary elections, significantly advancing African American voting rights.
D. Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education is the landmark 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision that declared racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional, overturning the “separate but equal” doctrine.
E. Katzenbach v. McClung
Katzenbach v. McClung is a 1964 U.S. Supreme Court case that upheld the federal government’s power to prohibit racial discrimination in local restaurants under the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
F. None of above. chosen

Statements (48)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	United States Supreme Court case ⓘ desegregation case ⓘ landmark civil rights case ⓘ
areaOfLaw	civil rights law ⓘ constitutional law ⓘ education law ⓘ
arguedDate	1950-04-04 ⓘ 1950-04-05 ⓘ
citation	339 U.S. 629 ⓘ
clauseInvolved	Equal Protection Clause ⓘ
constitutionalProvision	Fourteenth Amendment ⓘ surface form: Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
country	United States of America ⓘ surface form: United States
court	Supreme Court of the United States ⓘ
decisionDate	1950-06-05 ⓘ
decisionType	unanimous decision ⓘ
doctrineAffected	separate but equal ⓘ
findingOnFacilities	The separate Black law school was inferior in faculty, library, course offerings, and reputation. ⓘ
fullName	Sweatt v. Painter self-linksurface differs ⓘ surface form: Heman Marion Sweatt v. Theophilus S. Painter, et al.
holding	Separate law school facilities for Black students in Texas were not substantially equal to those for white students. ⓘ The Equal Protection Clause requires that Heman Sweatt be admitted to the University of Texas Law School. ⓘ
impact	helped undermine the legal basis of segregated professional and graduate schools ⓘ laid groundwork for the Supreme Court’s rejection of school segregation in Brown v. Board of Education ⓘ
influenced	desegregation of public higher education in the United States ⓘ
institutionInvolved	University of Texas School of Law ⓘ
jurisdiction	Texas ⓘ surface form: State of Texas United States of America ⓘ surface form: United States
legalIssue	Equal Protection Clause ⓘ surface form: Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment racial segregation in higher education ⓘ
locationOfInstitution	Austin ⓘ surface form: Austin, Texas
majorityOpinionBy	Chief Justice Fred M. Vinson ⓘ
partyRace	Heman Sweatt was African American ⓘ
petitioner	Heman Marion Sweatt ⓘ
precedentFor	Brown v. Board of Education ⓘ
reasoning	Intangible factors such as reputation, alumni influence, and interaction with other students are part of legal education equality. ⓘ
relatedCase	McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents ⓘ
remedy	mandamus to admit petitioner to the University of Texas Law School ⓘ
respondent	Theophilus S. Painter ⓘ
respondentRole	President of the University of Texas ⓘ
resultForPetitioner	Sweatt v. Painter self-linksurface differs ⓘ surface form: Heman Sweatt was ordered admitted to the University of Texas Law School
segregatedSchoolCreated	separate law school for Black students in Houston, Texas ⓘ
segregatedSchoolName	Texas Southern University ⓘ surface form: Texas State University for Negroes School of Law
segregationPolicy	Sweatt v. Painter self-linksurface differs ⓘ surface form: University of Texas Law School excluded Black applicants
state	Texas ⓘ
stateActionChallenged	Texas policy of racially segregated legal education ⓘ
stateCourtFromWhichAppealed	Texas Supreme Court ⓘ surface form: Supreme Court of Texas
subjectMatter	admission to public law school ⓘ
vote	9–0 ⓘ
yearDecided	1950 ⓘ

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (18)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Thurgood Marshall → notableWork → Sweatt v. Painter ⓘ

NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund represented plaintiffs → notableCase → Sweatt v. Painter ⓘ

subject surface form: NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund

Sweatt v. Painter → fullName → Sweatt v. Painter self-linksurface differs ⓘ

this entity surface form: Heman Marion Sweatt v. Theophilus S. Painter, et al.

Sweatt v. Painter → segregationPolicy → Sweatt v. Painter self-linksurface differs ⓘ

this entity surface form: University of Texas Law School excluded Black applicants

Sweatt v. Painter → resultForPetitioner → Sweatt v. Painter self-linksurface differs ⓘ

this entity surface form: Heman Sweatt was ordered admitted to the University of Texas Law School

McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents → relatedCase → Sweatt v. Painter ⓘ

NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund → notableWork → Sweatt v. Painter ⓘ

Thoroughgood Marshall → notableWork → Sweatt v. Painter ⓘ

subject surface form: Thurgood Marshall

Heman Marion Sweatt → notableWork → Sweatt v. Painter ⓘ

Heman Marion Sweatt → significantEvent → Sweatt v. Painter ⓘ

Heman Marion Sweatt → legalCase → Sweatt v. Painter ⓘ

Heman Marion Sweatt → describedIn → Sweatt v. Painter ⓘ

this entity surface form: U.S. Supreme Court decision Sweatt v. Painter (1950)

Heman Sweatt was African American → partyTo → Sweatt v. Painter ⓘ

subject surface form: Heman Marion Sweatt

Heman Sweatt was African American → hasRole → Sweatt v. Painter ⓘ

subject surface form: Heman Marion Sweatt

this entity surface form: plaintiff in Sweatt v. Painter

McLaurin was required to sit in designated segregated areas in classrooms, the library, and the cafeteria. → relatedCase → Sweatt v. Painter ⓘ

subject surface form: McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents

Theophilus S. Painter → participantIn → Sweatt v. Painter ⓘ

Theophilus S. Painter → significantEvent → Sweatt v. Painter ⓘ

this entity surface form: U.S. Supreme Court decision Sweatt v. Painter (1950)

United States Supreme Court cases of the Vinson Court → notableCase → Sweatt v. Painter ⓘ

All labels observed (6)

How this entity was disambiguated Show

Statements (48)

How these facts were elicited Show

Referenced by (18)

How this entity was disambiguated

How these facts were elicited