Filed Date: March 7, 1967
Closed Date: 1970
Clearinghouse coding complete
On March 7, 1967, the plaintiff brought this lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina. The plaintiff, an African-American teacher, sued defendant Weldon City Board of Education, alleging that she had been fired on the basis of race and that the Board's process for hiring, firing and assigning teachers was racially discriminatory. The North Carolina Teachers Association intervened as a plaintiff in the suit.
On June 14, 1967, the district court (Judge John Larkins) concluded that the plaintiff's individual claim of racial discrimination had no merit but that her class action claim about the Board's process for teacher assignment did. On August 15, 1967, Judge Larkins entered a consent order granting injunctive relief against the Board's racially discriminatory practice of hiring, firing and assigning teachers. Under the order, the Board agreed to take steps to integrate faculty and to file an annual report to the court on its progress. Such reports were filed for four years, 1967 through 1970.
Meanwhile, the Board submitted a desegregation plan to the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare in September 1968 pursuant to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The plan, which HEW approved, laid out how the Board would undertake desegregation efforts starting in the 1969-70 school year. It combined the district's two high schools but continued freedom-of-choice in the elementary schools. For 1970-71, the Board proposed dividing the district into attendance zones with combined schools. The Board also stated that it would reassign teachers on a non-racial basis.
In 1970, HEW informed the Board that it was operating a unitary school district and thus was preliminarily in compliance with the requirements of the Civil Rights Act.
The docket in this case ends in 1970.
Post-script
There was apparently never a private student plaintiff lawsuit against the Weldon City Board of Education. This litigation concerned teacher integration; on the student front, the Board worked with HEW to achieve unitary status without a lawsuit, through the implementation of HEW-approved plans. Nonetheless, the reality on the ground remained stark for students -- so much so that around 2010, the North Carolina Center for Civil Rights issued a report concluding that the existence of three separate districts in the area (Weldon City, Halifax County and Roanoke Rapids) amounted to an equal protection violation. In 2015, a group of parents, the NAACP and a non-profit sued the Halifax County Commissioners in state court to force consolidation of the three districts, in Silver v. Halifax County Bd. of Commissioners; more details show full summary
Summary Authors
Greg Margolis (2/28/2017)
Chambers, Julius Levonne (North Carolina)
Greenberg, Jack (North Carolina)
Allsbrook, Julian R. (North Carolina)
Dodds, Dewey K. (Virginia)
Fisher, M. L. (North Carolina)
Larkins, John Davis Jr. (North Carolina)
Last updated March 5, 2024, 3:01 a.m.
Docket sheet not available via the Clearinghouse.State / Territory: North Carolina
Case Type(s):
Key Dates
Filing Date: March 7, 1967
Closing Date: 1970
Case Ongoing: No
Plaintiffs
Plaintiff Description:
African-American teacher suing for herself on one claim and on behalf of all others similarly situated on another claim
Plaintiff Type(s):
Public Interest Lawyer: No
Filed Pro Se: No
Class Action Sought: Yes
Class Action Outcome: Granted
Defendants
Defendant Type(s):
Case Details
Causes of Action:
Constitutional Clause(s):
Available Documents:
Injunctive (or Injunctive-like) Relief
Outcome
Prevailing Party: Mixed
Nature of Relief:
Injunction / Injunctive-like Settlement
Source of Relief:
Form of Settlement:
Court Approved Settlement or Consent Decree
Order Duration: 1967 - 1970
Content of Injunction:
Other requirements regarding hiring, promotion, retention
Issues
General:
Discrimination-area:
Discrimination-basis:
Race:
Type of Facility: