Polier, Shad

Shad Polier was born Isadore Polier in Aiken, South Carolina on March 18, 1906. He graduated with distinction from the University of South Carolina in 1926, and then attended Harvard Law School, where he received his law degree in 1929 and a Master of Law degree in 1931. He was admitted to the New York Bar in 1930. He devoted himself to the civil rights cause in response to his strong feelings about the lynchings that had taken place throughout the South, particularly in his hometown of Aiken, South Carolina. Polier prepared legal briefs on behalf of the defendants before the High Court in the 1931 Scottsboro case, in which nine black youths were charged with raping two white girls. Partially in response to the Scottsboro case, he became active in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), serving on the Executive Committee of its Legal and Educational Defense Fund for thirty years. He emphasized the strong parallels between the African-American and Jewish experiences and his belief that liberty and freedom can exist only when all citizens hold equal rights.

In 1946 Polier prosecuted Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons, maintaining that the university’s admissions policies discriminated against Jewish and other minority students. In 1948 he brought a personal suit against the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, alleging that its Stuyvesant Town Development in New York was guilty of discriminatory housing practices by not admitting African Americans. Although Polier’s original case was dismissed, the American Jewish Congress, of which Polier was the vice president, continued to fight for fair housing laws and the case ultimately resulted in their establishment. Polier also led the fight for the first statewide Fair Education Practices Law that was directed at ending discrimination in the admission to colleges and universities on the basis of race or religion. This law was passed in 1947, in large part due to his actions. Polier was also involved in the landmark Brown vs. the Board of Education case. Along with several other members of the American Jewish Congress, Polier submitted briefs of amici curiae to the court supporting the students’ rights to obtain equal education.

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