Gladys Noel Bates

In 1948, salaries for black teachers in Mississippi was on the bottom rung of the nation’s teacher pay scale. Black teachers were paid one-half the salary of white teachers. In some school districts, the ratio was even lower. The difference in pay was based solely on skin color, even when black and white teachers had equal education, experience and Teacher certification. The Black teachers’ organization in Jackson, Mississippi was the Mississippi Association of Teachers in Colored Schools (MATCS). It later became known as the Mississippi Teachers Association (MTA). MATCS talked quietly with the NAACP leaders about the possibility of filing a lawsuit for equal pay for Black teachers. After many secret discussions, it was decided that the logical choice for a plaintiff would be Gladys Noel Bates because she was both a teacher and an active officer of the Jackson NAACP.[1][2]

During the long months of preparation for the lawsuit, all of the parties involved were pledged to absolute silence for they realized a slip of the tongue could result in Mrs. Bates being fired before the suit was filed.

The chief counsel for the NAACP at that time was a young attorney by the name of Thurgood Marshall. Attorney Marshall came and met with the small group of MATCS and NAACP representatives in Jackson. Attorney Marshall told the group, point blank, that until they secured $5,000, they were not in a position to seriously consider filing a lawsuit. This was quite a bit of money in the 1940s. It would be especially difficult for this group to raise that amount.

In addition to the money needed to file, no public school employee wanted to have in his possession any incriminating evidence which linked him to the suit. Mrs. Bates was often cautioned to keep papers in a safe place so that names of school and association personnel would not be placed in jeopardy.

The teachers decided to raise money for the lawsuit by increasing their membership dues by one dollar. They called this new fund the welfare or benevolent fund. Teachers, when asked by their white superintendents why the increase in dues was necessary, gave the well rehearsed reply that this money was needed for flowers and memorials for illnesses and deaths of black teachers. This was yet another survival tactic used by the African-American teachers during those years.

The other problem that MATCS and the NAACP faced was how to bank these so-called “welfare” funds. This also had to be done in full secrecy. MATCS opened an account under an assumed name at the Tri-State Bank in Memphis, Tennessee. All litigation expenses connected with the lawsuit were paid from this account.

Additional monies were secured at MATCS meetings by passing a gunny sack around the room. All teachers at the meetings would put their clenched fists inside the sack whether they had money in their hands or not. This was to protect members in case a snitch was in their presence. The snitch would not be able to disclose who had or had not contributed money to the case.

The next effort was to secure a local attorney to fight the case. For a time this seemed a serious roadblock. The only hope was an elderly man in Meridian, Mississippi, Attorney James A. Burns. He was very frail and it was seriously doubted that his health would permit his undertaking this strenuous physical and emotional case. To Mrs. Bates’ great relief, he replied that he felt taking on this case was the right thing for him to do. He agreed to become the attorney for the Bates’ lawsuit.

Attorney Burns climbed a bus every week to come to Jackson, Mississippi to file papers and research State and municipal records for little more than bus fare and meals. He was paid $1500 for four years of yeoman service to the cause of civil rights.

The lawsuit was filed on March 4, 1948. Mrs. Bates and her husband were fired from their teaching positions by the end of the 1948 school year. The Bates’ along with her parents and a few teachers who had expressed favorable opinions about the suit, were ostracized from society and fired from their teaching positions as well.

Mr. and Mrs. Bates were not only fired but Blacklisted from all public school teaching positions in the state of Mississippi. Gunshots were fired through the windows of the Bates’ home and it was ultimately burned to the ground in 1949.

This lawsuit was in litigation for four years (1948–1951) and, finally, the United States Supreme Court refused to hear the case, not because it was unmerited, but, relying on the precedent set by the Cook vs Davis Supreme Court case, it had ruled that all administrative remedies had to be exhausted before the case could be heard by the Court. The plaintiff must first seek relief from the local school board; if not given, then relief should be sought from the county board of education. If no relief is given there, then redress should be sought from the State. The obvious flaw and futility of this gesture is that a plaintiff would never survive the first step before employment would be terminated, as was the case with Mrs. Bates and her husband.

Black teachers did win a moral victory, and, in reality, equalization of their salaries. After litigation was begun, month by month and year by year as the lawsuit was winding its way through the District and Appeals courts, Black teachers’ salaries were brought to parity with those of white teachers in the State of Mississippi. So, by 1951, equal salaries were a reality and the lawsuit became moot.