In 1874, the Illinois General Assembly passed a law saying public school systems must educate Black students. As a result, many communities built separate schools for Black children. These schools were often smaller, farther from families’ homes, and in poorer condition than schools for white students.  John Peair tried to enroll his children, Tony and Cora, in a good high school in their district, but they were refused. John Peair filed a lawsuit against the School Board of Upper Alton because he felt the Board had put in place arbitrary, unfair rules to keep out Black children like Tony and Cora. After a loss in a lower court, the Illinois Supreme Court decided in favor of Peair, but only ruled that Tony and Cora should be admitted to the high school instead of integrating other Black students, too. Unfortunately, the court order that required the high school to admit Cora and Tony never came. Soon after, the school board set up a new system of grading for the local Black primary school that made it impossible for its students to qualify for admission into the high school. Twenty Black students demanded admission. They were eventually enrolled but were never assigned classes.