This excerpt is from an article by the NAACP Legal Defense Fund Senior Staff Writer, Leslie Norward. entitled "BLACK JUSTICE, BLACK JOY: Dreaming Bigger in the Fight for Civil Rights" She profiled the legacy of civil rights leaders and how their descendants contextualize intergenerational struggles. Read the full article, here! Proud of you, Daddy!
'A HISTORIC CASE STUDY: THE PURSUIT OF JUSTICE AND JOY IN THE FIGHT TO END SEGREGATION
With a transformative vision, civil rights advocates have united in the fight for racial justice throughout history, fueled by a collective power in imagining what the future could possibly hold. In its first two decades, LDF and co-counsel’s coordinated legal strategy challenging segregation, particularly in education, serves as a critical example of this work — achieved through the collective efforts of attorneys, staff, clients, allies, advocates, and supporters.
The organization’s landmark victory in Brown v. Board of Education in 1954 outlawed state-sponsored segregation in public schools and launched a new era in public education in the United States. Following Brown, LDF pursued numerous desegregation cases to enforce Brown’s promise. These cases included Brown II in 1955, which secured a subsequent win that compelled school districts to implement school desegregation plans. In a period that followed, these court rulings were often met with severe backlash, leading to schools and school systems being shut down in an effort to block desegregation — and to white segregationists inciting violence, terror, and intimidation against Black communities.
Within these moments of pushback and significant conflict, however, joy still appeared:
through hands grasped in anthems sung during civil rights marches, home-cooked meals shared during community gatherings, dreams relentlessly fought to be realized, and a vibrant vision uplifted for the future. In 1968, a third decision on an LDF case, Green v. County School Board of New Kent County, significantly furthered desegregation efforts as school districts across the nation were required to comply with the Supreme Court’s desegregation mandate.
At 10 years old, Charles Conrad Green, now 64, was the youngest plaintiff in the Green v. County School Board case. Green speaks today of the effect that the desegregation case had on his ability to live fully, freely, and joyfully.
“As an instructor and teacher in Richmond City Schools for 35 years, my father knew the school system’s rights and wrongs. When he challenged the [parent-teacher association] and the school system, I think my father’s thought process to put me on the case was that it might take a while, and we need to have somebody still around when [the court ruling] comes to fruition,” Green tells LDF in an interview. “The case went from there [the county] to the state [of Virginia], and, eventually, to the Supreme Court. I’m not sure that was the intent when this whole thing started. But we’re also blessed that it went that far.”
Green describes his role in the case over the years as a “transformation.” Inspired by the case as well as both of his parents’ backgrounds as educators, Green would go on to pursue a fulfilling career in education, teaching, and coaching youth “to never stop learning”.
“As a child, I really didn’t have much of a clue on the political side and [the] racial injustice side of things. I [was] just a young man, in elementary and middle school … and my colleagues, my classmates at the time probably had no clue what was going on,” Green says. “But as I got older and became a lifelong and retired educator and high school teacher, it became more prominent and more important the longer and further the years went back. Over the years, I’ve come to better understand [my role in the case], claim it, and be quite proud of it as folks recognized the importance of its impact, not so much in New Kent County, but all over.”
Green describes the fight for racial justice as a “rollercoaster of ups and downs” that joy acts to stabilize.
“The joy is in recognizing there is a problem and continuing to focus on standing up and doing something about it. The joy keeps our struggle moving forward. Without being aware of our joy, we can become complacent and comfortable with the status quo. 55 years later, I’d say, that joy still plays a role. We’re still held to a different standard, and we’ve still got a long way to go.”'
Left: Charles Conrad Green with Henry L. Marsh III. Marsh represented Green in Green v. County School Board in 1968.
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