Margaret W. Rose, was denied the opportunity to attend high school in Baltimore County because of her race.

Her lawyer was Thurgood Marshall.

Maryland’s highest court ruled in 1937, “Admission to the white school could be required only upon a showing that the equality of treatment is not obtainable separately.”

Ms. Rose was the aunt of Speaker Adrienne Jones.

Speaker Jones spoke of her aunt’s case today at the rededication of the Marshall statue outside the State House.

That case was one of the first brought by future Justice Marshall on the legal path to Brown v. Board of Education, where he persuaded the Supreme Court to strike down the separate but equal standard.

The Speaker was too modest.

She could have added that a settlement of a lawsuit asserting that Maryland’s historically black colleges and universities are underfunded, in violation of the Brown decision,  was announced last month.

That lawsuit was filed in 2006.

What prompted the settlement was House Bill 1, Historically Black Colleges and Universities – Funding.

The sponsor of that bill was Speaker Jones.