Eleven African American middle school students had a petition signed on their behalf because all eleven of them were rejected by all-white schools. The students had applied to the white school because their school, the black school, was in no way equal. The African Americans school was rundown, shabby, was in a bad town, and did not have a substantial amount of materials for education. Local advocate for better schools, Gardner Bishop, helped file a lawsuit for the children, which unfortunately failed in the local courts. The case was appealed to the US Supreme Court, where it would be pooled in with four other cases under one name; The Brown V. Board of Education of Topeka case.