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= Sue Cowan Williams = Sue Cowan Williams (May 29, 1910 - May 31, 1994) was an American educator and activist who fought for the equalization of black and white teachers’ salaries. She served as the plaintiff in Morris v. Williams where she represented African-American teachers of the Little Rock School District. After filing suit on February 28, 1942, the trial lasted one week, ruling against Williams. In 1945, her appeal was heard by the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis, Missouri, and it was decided in her favor. Williams was an English teacher at Dunbar High School from 1935 to 1943 when her contract was not renewed due to backlash from the superintendent over the lawsuit. She was reinstated in 1952 and taught until her retirement in 1974.

Early Life
Sue Cowan Williams was born Sue Cowan in Eudora, Arkansas on May 29, 1910, to J. Alex Cowan and Leila Roberts Cowan. Following her mother’s death shortly after birth, Cowan was raised by her grandmother in Texas until the age of four when she returned to Arkansas to live with her father. She attended boarding school at Spelman in Atlanta, Georgia from fifth grade through high school. Cowan continued her education to hold degrees from both Talladega College in Talladega and the University of Chicago.

Cowan appears to have married in 1942, as the city directory shows her name changing to Sue Cowan Morris, although what happened to her husband is unclear. Later in 1946, she married Reverend Booker T. Williams, becoming Sue Cowan Williams.

Career
Sue Cowan Williams started her teaching career in 1935, at Dunbar High School in Little Rock (Pulaski County). However, her career didn’t go so well in the early period. After 7 years of teaching at Dunbar High School, her contract was not renewed because of litigation to pursue a balance of salaries between black and white teachers in the segregated South. She was not the only casualty of the backlash following the lawsuit; Dr. John H. Lewis, principal of Dunbar, and John H. Gipson, president of the City Teachers Association of Little Rock, were also dismissed. She then contracted work with Arkansas AM&N College (now the University of Arkansas Pine Bluff), the Arkansas Ordnance Plant in Jacksonville (Pulaski County), and Arkansas Baptist College in Little Rock before regaining a position with the Little Rock School District. Dr. LeRoy Christophe, named principal of Dunbar in the fall of 1945, requested the reinstatement of Morris. In 1952, a call from then-superintendent Harry Little, asking if she had “learned her lesson,” preceded her reinstatement in the Little Rock School District. She taught at Dunbar until 1974 when she retired.

Morris v. Williams
The purpose of the Morris v. Williams case was that the defendants were fighting for equal protections from laws due to the violation of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States and for an injunction. The defendants, in this case, are the Board of Directors of the public schools of the Little Rock Special School District. The teachers and principles in the public schools of the city have been paid lower salaries than the white teachers for many years because of their race. This complaint was first filed on February 28, 1942, and their complaint was denied a month later due to the policies and laws were not violated and that if a difference did exist between white and black teachers, it wouldn’t be because of their race. Two questions were used to decide this verdict and they were “Did there exist in Little Rock a schedule of salaries for teachers in the public schools by which the negro teachers were discriminated against solely on account of race or color?” and “Did there exist a policy, custom or usage to pay negro teachers lower salaries than were paid to white teachers solely on account of race or color?”. The case was, later on, commenced again and it has been going on for more than three years. More investigation happened this time around and two forms of relief were demanded, which were a declaratory judgment and an injunction. The dismissal was later reversed and remanded to the district court with more instructions.

Death and Legacy
Despite much of the backlash she faced, Sue Cowan Williams was an active member of the community. Her efforts and determination did not extinguish after the court case. She became a member of Mt. Zion Baptist Church and also became the first youth director for the church. She became heavily involved with the community, becoming president of the Phyllis Wheatley Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) in Little Rock. She was among the people who helped establish the Gamma Gamma chapter of Delta Sigma Theta on the campus of Philander Smith College. The other organizations she contributed include The National Dunbar Alumni Association, Links, Inc., the Urban League, and the National Council of Negro Women.

Sue Cowan Williams died May 31, 1994, in Little Rock. She fought for equal rights and pay between black and white teachers. In modern-day America, it is illegal for companies (not just schools) to pay certain employees less due to their ethnicity. Her efforts were recognized and honored. In her honor, the tenth library in the Central Arkansas Library System was dedicated to her. During that time, it was the most expensive building in the library system. It is near the historic Dunbar High School building and serves as a remembrance of her works.