Lloyd Lionel Gaines (1911-1939) | WikiTree FREE Family Tree

Lloyd Lionel Gaines

Born 1911 in Water Valley, Yalobusha, Mississippi, United States

Son of Henry Richard Gaines and [mother unknown]

Brother of George Dewitt Gaines, Milton Gaines, Ira Gaines, May Gaines and John Gaines

[spouse(s) unknown]

[children unknown]

Died 19 Mar 1939 at about age 28 in Chicago, Cook, Illinois, United States

Problems/Questions Profile manager: US Black Heritage Project WikiTree

[send private message]

Profile last modified 18 Dec 2023 | Created 27 Sep 2021

This page has been accessed 617 times.

Lloyd Gaines is a part of US Black history.
Join: US Black Heritage Project
Discuss: black_heritage

1 Biography
2 Sources

Biography

Lloyd Gaines is Notable.

Lloyd Lionel Gaines was the plaintiff in Gaines v. Canada (1938), one of the most important early court cases in the U.S. civil rights movement. After being denied admission to the University of Missouri School of Law because he was African American, and refusing the university's offer to pay for him to attend a neighboring state's law school that had no racial restriction, Gaines filed suit. The U.S. Supreme Court ultimately ruled in his favor, holding that the separate but equal doctrine required that Missouri either admit him or set up a separate law school for Black students.^[1]

Lloyd Lionel Gaines was born in 1911 to Richard Henry Gaines and Callie S Holman in Water Valley, Mississippi. Lloyd's father died when he was 4 years old. He moved to St. Louis with his widowed mother and siblings after their father's premature death. He is one of eleven children, seven of whom survived illness and accident.

Siblings

^[2] ^[3]

Chesley Gaines 1895-
George Dewitt Gaines 1898-
Milton Gaines 1900-
Ira Gaines 1903-
May Gaines 1906-
John Gaines 1908-
Arthur Gaines 1909-

Education

Alma mater

Lincoln University
University of Michigan

Degrees

Bachelor of Arts Degree in History
Masters Degree in Economics

Lloyd applied for admission to the University of Missouri School of Law, but he was denied because he was African American. The university's offer to pay for him to attend a neighboring state's law school that had no racial restriction, he declined the offer. ^[4]

He sued the University of Missouri for denying him entry to its law school because he was black, and he won the case at the Supreme Court. He disappeared in 1939 in Chicago. His case was not among the more than 110 reviewed between 2006 and 2013 under a Department of Justice initiative and the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act. ^[5]

Disappeared/Death

Lloyd Gaines disappeared on March 19, 1939, he was about 27or 28 years old at the time. He stepped out of his home in Chicago, Illinois to buy some stamps. He was never heard or seen from again. A cenotaph was placed for Lloyd Lionel Gaines in Saint Peter's Cemetery, Normandy, St. Louis County, Missouri, USA. His plot is in section 29, lot 217. His memorial ID is 22522. ^[6]

Books

Lloyd Gaines and the Fight to End Segregation, Book by James Webster Endersby and William Horner ^[7]

See Also

No FBI cold-case inquiry for missing civil rights pioneer Lloyd Gaines

ALAN SCHER ZAGIER/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Aug 1, 2015 ^[8]

Lloyd Gaines, a lost hero of the civil rights era ^[9]
Lloyd Gaines and the Fight to End Segregation ^[10]
Lloyd Gaines ^[11]
Lloyd Lionel Gaines ^[12]

Research Notes

Some of Lloyds siblings did not live to be an adult. I have yet to identify the names. Lloyd disappeared when he was 27 or 28, I have found no record of any marriage or children.