Today in Labor History, February 28, the year was
On this day in Labor History the year was 1942.
That was the day that Sue Cowan Williams filed a lawsuit for equal pay for black school teachers in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Eighty-six black teachers worked in the city’s segregated school system.
They were all members of the Little Rock Class Room Teachers Association.
In 1941 the teachers formed a Salary Adjustment Committee to look into pay discrimination.
They found there was a wide gap between black and white salaries.
The average white elementary school teacher made $526 a year, while black teachers earned only $321.
White high school teachers brought home $856, but black teachers made only $567.
Backed with this research, the committee presented a petition to the School Board demanding an end to the pay discrimination.
The board tabled the petition, and that summer passed another round of unequal pay raises.
The teachers then approached the NAACP and asked them to handle their case.
Thurgood Marshall agreed to take up the lawsuit.
Marshall would go on to become the first black US Supreme Court Justice.
Sue Cowan Williams, the head of the English Department at Dunbar High School was selected as the plaintiff for the case.
The teachers lost their lawsuit, and then won on appeal.
But Williams paid a price for her involvement.
The next year the school district did not renew her contract.
She was finally rehired to teach at Dunbar a decade later.
But first the School Superintendent called Williams to ask if she had “learned her lesson.”
It was a lesson that many workers have learned—that there is often a high personal cost for standing up for justice on the job.
April 8 - John L. Lewis Takes on Henry Ford
April 7 - Flora Tristan is Born
April 6 - Rose Schneiderman is Born
April 5 - Massey Mine Explodes, pt. 2
April 4 - Massey Mine Explodes, pt. 1
April 3 - Lincoln Freed the Slaves, Ford Brought Them Back
April 2 - Trouble in the Sweetest Place on Earth
April 1 - The Promise of 1946
March 31 - Hospital Workers Stand United
March 30 - 15th Amendment Adopted
March 29 - West Coast Hotel v Parrish Decided
March 28 - Partial Meltdown at Three Mile Island
March 27 - FE Strikers Battle Police at Harvester
March 26 - Police Attack UE Amid ‘46 Strike Wave
March 25 - Centralia Coal Mine #5 Explodes
March 24 - Exxon Valdez Runs Aground
March 23 - Texas City Refinery Explosion Kills 15
March 22 - ERA Passes the Senate
March 21 - Truman Signs Loyalty Order
March 20 - Another Deadly Explosion
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