Author: Ambar Paulino

The Lumpkin v Dempsey 1970 complaint is a legal document that outlines school segregation complaint which was filed by Mae Willie Lumpkin, Barbara Henderson, Mary Diaz and Helen Vernell Johnson against John Dempsey, the Governor of Connecticut.  The plaintiffs, Lumpkin, Henderson, Diaz, and Johnson argued that their children were not receiving equal educational opportunities when compared to the opportunities suburban children had. The plaintiffs used the Fourteenth amendment in the United States Constitution and also the 1965 education amendment on the Connecticut constitution to back the disputed claims up. Dated on February 20^th, 1970, this legal document puts forth the details behind the lawsuit action. The plaintiffs claimed that John Dempsey did not exercise his right to use his powers as supreme chief officer of the state of Connecticut to provide an equal education for all minority children enrolled in Hartford schools.

On the other hand, the defendants and his/their attorneys argued that it would be unconstitutional to attempt to desegregate schools by the plaintiff’s means due to the fact that it is dependent on the votes of citizens living in Hartford, Windsor and West Hartford (three bordering neighborhoods they planned to integrate). However, votes would have been skewed due to the fact that each town mentioned in the document were either suburbanized (had very little minority enrollment percentages) or heavily urbanized (majority of enrolled students are considered of Hispanic/African American descent). The plaintiffs of the court asked for a more structured school system, in where children would be required to attend “zone schools”, and for state officials like Mr. Dempsey to practice their power in a positive way, whereas ultimately abolishing the unintentional segregation that they found alarming.

To my own knowledge, the Sheff v. O’Neill 1989 case was the first one of its’ kind. In her book, The Children in Room E4, author Susan Eaton makes a small reference about the Lumpkin v. Dempsey case, one that I overlooked myself. On page 79 Eaton states, “Connecticut-most like Northern and Midwestern states and unlike much of the post-Brown South- had established each town or city as a separate school district and required students to attend school where they lived…numerous schools within Hartford, the lawyers had pointed out, had minority group enrollments “in excess of 90 percent.” Eaton points out the fact that the lawsuit was left untouched after three years.  She parallels this one lawsuit to many lawsuits before she goes on to introduce the 1986 Sheff v. O’Neill case.

Discussion Questions:

1. Do you think that it would have been fair to have residents from Hartford, Windsor and West Hartford vote the decision for integration of schools?
2. Why do you think the complaint was left untouched after 1973?
3. How does this complaint compare to the Sheff v. O’Neill case? How does it differ? What was the determining factor of the success of one case, versus the failure of the other?