This is a House resolution honoring the civil rights activists and legal battles that led to the desegregation of Girard College in Philadelphia. Girard College was founded in 1848 to serve poor white male orphans, and for over a century it refused admission to African-American students based on the founder's will. In 1954, when six Black boys were rejected, civil rights lawyer Raymond Pace Alexander began a legal fight using the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision. Though lower courts initially upheld the college's discriminatory policies, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled in 1957 that the racial ban was unconstitutional. However, Girard College then became a private institution, which allowed it to continue discriminating. The real breakthrough came through activism led by Cecil B. Moore, who became president of the Philadelphia NAACP chapter in 1962. Moore and the NAACP organized protests and picketing at the college, and in 1965, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke to demonstrators there. Finally, in 1968, a federal appeals court ordered the college to admit seven African-American students, and Girard College voted to accept them on May 23, 1968. This resolution recognizes these leaders and their fight for equality, and calls for continued efforts to protect diversity and civil rights in colleges and universities across the nation.

Recognizing the desegregation efforts at Girard College in Philadelphia, and the leaders involved in African-American integration and civil rights expansion.