User:Jan10808/Millicent Brown

Dr. Millicent E. Brown is a civil rights activist and educator best known for being the one of the first people to integrate Charleston public schools in 1963. During her time as an educator, she founded the "Somebody Had to Do It" project that looks at the history of desegregation of schools in South Carolina and in the U.S.

Early Life
Millicent Ellison Brown was born in 1948 in Charleston, South Carolina to MaeDe, a comptroller at the Cannon Street Hospital, and Joseph Arthur Brown, a real-estate broker and the NAACP president in Charleston and South Carolina. Because of her father's involvement with the NAACP, the Brown's home was filled with civil rights leaders like Thurgood Marshall, Constance Baker Motley, Roy Wilkins, and Matthew Perry who were all influential to Millicent's involvement in civil rights activism.

Brown et al v. School District No. 20
After the decision in Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, J. Arthur Brown and other African American families began the process to enroll their children in Charleston public schools. After harsh pushback, it became evident that a lawsuit was necessary to force the school district to follow the precedent set in Brown, which they filed in 1959 with Millicent's sister Minerva as the lead plaintiff.

This lawsuit was met by stark opposition from white people in South Carolina who had designed a legislative system in a strategy known as "school equalization" to preserve the segregated education system. In 1951, a general sales tax was put into place to build modern Black elementary and high schools to argue against any accusations that the state discriminated against Black students. By the time of the lawsuit, several districts had motioned to build schools for Black students, which only delayed the case. Unfortunately, Minerva was about to graduate high school at that time, and the case was going to get thrown out. To prevent this from happening, J. Arthur switched Minerva's name with Millicent's, making Millicent the lead plaintiff at age 12.

In August of 1963, Judge Robert Martin of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of South Carolina ruled that Black children could integrate into Charleston public schools but only permitted the plaintiffs involved to enroll that fall rather than all Black students. His reasoning was that it was "impractical" for all schools to integrate with such a short amount of time.

Entering Rivers High School
On September 3rd, 1963, Millicent Brown entered Rivers High School in the 10th grade along with Jackie Ford in the 8th grade as the first two Black children to attend the school. During their time at the school, Brown and Ford would have to endure racism and bullying from their white peers in the form of bomb threats, monkey noises, preventing them from using the bathroom, or avoiding being near them altogether. Brown believed that she had to be better than her peers in order to represent her race well, and her mother would tell her to be the bigger person. However, at night, she continually plead with her parents to let her go back to the all Black Burke High School.

In her senior year, the psychological and emotional trauma she faced as a result of her bullying burdened her so much that she could not walk across a room without gasping for air. After returning to school, one of her classmates welcomed her back by slapping her hard on the back and asked how she was doing, which resulted in Brown throwing up in the bathroom. However, when she returned, she took a yardstick and hit him so hard across the shoulder that the yardstick broke. After this event, her chest pains and breathing problems stopped, but the emotional trauma remained.

Career
After graduating Rivers High School, Brown went on to graduate from the College of Charleston with a B.A. in History in 1975, the Citadel with a M.Ed. in Education in 1978, and a PhD in U.S. History from Florida State University. She additionally taught at Bennett College (1995-1999), Guilford College (1999-2002), North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (2001-2002), the Governor's School at the College of Charleston (2002), and Claflin University. She additionally wrote her dissertation while at Florida State University on the history of civil rights in Charleston from 1940 to 1970.

Along with her education, Brown continues to serve on projects that better her community. She works closely with the Quality Education Program in Charleston to better the quality and diversity among all Charleston public schools. In addition, she serves on South Carolina's ACLU Board of Directors and as the state's representative to the national ACLU. Even after retiring from teaching, Brown is a consultant for race relations and diversity issues and speaks at public schools with the College of Charleston's Avery Research Center.

Somebody Had to Do It Project
In 2006, Dr. Brown created the Somebody Had to Do It Project with the intent to share the story of other "first children" who integrated schools in South Carolina and the United States with a focus on their personal experiences. The physical and emotional they would experience from other students, teachers, politicans, and other people in power often goes untold, which is what Brown and her colleagues want to change. In collaboration with the Avery Research Center, the project details the history of African Americans fighting for better education in the United States from Reconstruction to the Civil Rights Movement.

Awards

 * Chester C. Travelstead Award for Courage in Education (2017)
 * Commitment to Justice Award (2021)