William Garnes was a Black resident of Norwich, Ohio, and the father of three school-age children. A school for Black children was maintained in Hilliard, Ohio, but that was around 80 miles away from the Garnes family’s home. Garnes tried to enroll his children at a nearby white school in Norwich, but they were denied admission due to their race. Garnes sued the local board of education in the Supreme Court of Ohio and asked that they be compelled to admit his children to the local public school. Garnes stated that the classification of school children by race forced children of color to travel outside of their district to attend school, which violated the 14th Amendment of the Constitution. The school board referred to Van Camp v. Board (1859), arguing that the law permitting segregation was one of classification, not of exclusion. They argued that the school for Black children was equal in every way, if not superior, to the school established for white children. The Court agreed and held that the “equality of rights does not involve the necessity of educating white and colored persons in the same school, any more than it does that of educating children of both sexes in the same school, or that different grades of scholars must be kept in the same school.” Ultimately, the Court ruled in favor of the school officials, and Garnes lost the case.