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Briggs v. Elliott Presidential Medal of Freedom Nominees
SEEKING RECOGNITION
Clarendon County residents who initiated South Carolina’s early desegregation cases were given the Congressional Gold Medal last year.
The Modjeska Simkins Center for Justice, Ethics and Human Rights is seeking recognition for six others involved in the S.C. case, Briggs v. Elliott. They are nominated for a Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor bestowed by the president:
Kenneth Clark: Clark, a psychologist, conducted studies with Clarendon County children, using black and white dolls to demonstrate the detrimental effects of racism. He testified as an expert witness in the Briggs v. Elliott trial. His evidence formed a major part of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1954 desegregation decision. He died Sunday.
Harold Boulware: A Columbia attorney, Boulware was chief counsel for the S.C. NAACP, sitting beside Thurgood Marshall in arguing the Briggs v. Elliott case. Later, he was appointed to several S.C. judgeships. He died in 1983.
Charles Hamilton Houston: Houston was an NAACP attorney who fought to desegregate graduate and professional schools. He groomed a legion of lawyers, including Thurgood Marshall, who argued the case for public schools before the U.S. Supreme Court in Brown v. the Board of Education. He died in 1950.
Modjeska Simkins: This Columbia civil rights activist published articles in Jet and other black publications detailing the economic plight of those who signed the Briggs petition. Her appeals spurred much-needed donations of food and clothing. She died in 1992.
Judge J. Waties Waring: An eighth-generation Charlestonian, Waring stunned his fellow South Carolinians by issuing decisions in the 1940s that supported equal pay and equal treatment for blacks. His dissenting opinion in the Briggs case is echoed in the Supreme Court’s decision. He died in 1968.
Walter White: White was one of the most influential civil rights leaders of the first half of the 20th century. As executive secretary of the NAACP, he fought for anti-lynching legislation, fair employment practices, and an end to a segregated military and segregated schools. He died in 1955.
Posted on Tue, May. 03, 2005
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Medal History
