Roberts v. City of Boston trial begins.

The trial before the Massachusetts Supreme Court is held at the Suffolk County Court House. Robert Morris and Charles Sumner represent the Benjamin Roberts, who had sued for the right to send his daughter Sarah to schools near their North End home rather than be assigned because of her race to the Abiel Smith School. In his opening argument quotes the passage in the Massachusetts Constitution, which declares, “All men are born free and equal.” The case is decided on April 8, 1850.*