 In the final year (1963–1964), the NAACP-sponsored Prince Edward Free School picked up some of the slack by educating some of the black youth who had been unable to leave the county to attend public schools elsewhere.In 1963, federal district courts ordered the public schools to open; Prince Edward County appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.Ruling in "Griffin v. County School Board of Prince Edward County", the Court unanimously agreed in May 1964 that Prince Edward County's actions violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.