Ada Lois Sipuel Fisher was a key figure in the Civil Rights Movement. Ada helped to desegregate Langston University and Oklahoma University. Ada was born on February 8th, 1924 in Chickasaw, Oklahoma. She graduated as valedictorian from Lincoln High school.Ada had always dreamed about becoming a lawyer, but due to the laws in place to keep Oklahoma schools and state universities segregated. The only college she could go to was Langston University. She graduated from Langston with high honors.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) urged Ada to apply at OU law school. So on January 14, 1946 Ada applied at OU law. The university’s president reviewed her application and decided that there was no academic reason to not allow her to go to the school, but due to the segregation laws in Oklahoma he could not allow her to go to the school.

On April 6, 1946 Ada filed a lawsuit in Cleveland County District Court. She lost her case in the district court, but she appealed her case to the Oklahoma Supreme Court. The Oklahoma Supreme Court came to the same decision as the district court, stating that the segregation of blacks and whites was not against the Constitution. Ada still was not happy with their biased decision so she appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States. The Supreme Court justices ruled that Oklahoma had to provide Ada with the same opportunities as a white person. Thurgood Marshall was her lawyer throughout her legal fight for equality.

On June 30, 1949 Ada started class at OU law. Although she could go to the school she was still forced to sit in the back of the class, away from the white kids. She had to stand behind a railing labeled “colored”, had to eat in a separate dining facility, and had to have a seat sectioned off at the football games. These conditions persisted through 1950.

Ada’s brave actions inspired a new decade of African American students entering college or other institutions of higher learning.