MSM 602 Gladys Noel Bates - Blacklisted by Mississippi - a podcast by USM Center for Oral History

In 1948, Gladys Noel Bates agreed to be the named plaintiff in a lawsuit brought by the black Mississippi Teachers Association against the state of Mississippi to demand equal pay for black teachers, knowing that she and her husband would most likely lose their jobs.

After news of the suit made headlines, Bates remembers the other teachers avoided being seen with her for fear of reprisals. She describes how being blacklisted by the state prevented the couple from teaching anywhere in the South.

Bates and her husband left Mississippi in 1960 and became teachers in Denver, Colorado. She recalls how their plan to keep a low profile was thwarted by a desire to improve racial relations. Soon, Bates had developed a reputation in the Denver public school system as someone who could work with people of all races.  She gives several examples of the strategies she used to unite parents and students in the common goal of a better education for all.

CONTAINS RACIAL EXPLICIT LANGUAGE

 

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