 Murray appealed this rejection to the Board of Regents of the university, but was refused admittance.The nation's oldest black collegiate fraternity, Alpha Phi Alpha, initiated "Murray v. Pearson" on June 25, 1935 as part of its widening social program, and retained Belford Lawson to litigate the case.By the time the case reached court, Murray was represented by Charles Hamilton Houston and Thurgood Marshall of the Baltimore National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).