In 1943, the NAACP filed suit against the Charleston school district on behalf of a Black teacher at Burke Industrial School, Malissa Theresa Smith. She and other Black teachers had not received the 15 salary percent increase that the General Assembly had authorized for all teachers. This article quotes Smith: “Rousseau said, ‘He who would be free must strike the first blow.’ I believe as ardently in that doctrine as I do in the concepts of democracy and God himself.” College of Charleston graduate Harold Erckmann, attorney for the school district, helped them identify legal grounds to fire Smith three months later for being absent without “proper permission.” | Source: Evening Post (published as THE CHARLESTON EVENING POST) – June 24, 1943 – page 1 Download Original File
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Evening Post (published as THE CHARLESTON EVENING POST) – June 24, 1943 – page 1
