Wife of Miss. NAACP Head Seeks High Court Review of Dismissal as Teacher

Press Release
April 4, 1966

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Wife of Miss. NAACP Head Seeks High Court Review of Dismissal as Teacher preview

LDF Represents Mrs. Aaron Henry in Mississippi

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  • Press Releases, Volume 3. Wife of Miss. NAACP Head Seeks High Court Review of Dismissal as Teacher, 1966. f3714ae4-b692-ee11-be37-00224827e97b. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/7013aa50-2fff-4fe5-979c-05f577bda940/wife-of-miss-naacp-head-seeks-high-court-review-of-dismissal-as-teacher. Accessed August 19, 2025.

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New York, N.Y, 10019 
JUdson 6-8397 

NAACP 

Legal Defense and Educational Fund 
PRESS RELEASE 

"ion. Francis E. Rivers 
Difsctor-Counsel FOR RELEASE 

Jack Greenberg Monday, 
April 4, 1966 

WIFE OF MISS. NAACP HEAD 
SEEKS HIGH COURT REVIEW 
OF DISMISSAL AS TEACHER 

Legal Defense Fund Represents Mrs. Aaron Henry 

WASHINGTON---The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund today 

asked the Supreme Court to review the case of a Mississippi school- 

teacher, fired after she and her husband had been active in the 

civil rights movement. 

Mrs. Noelle M. Henry, wife of Dr. Aaron Henry, Mississippi 

State president of the National Association for the Advancement of 

Colored People, had taught in the Coahoma County, Miss. school 

system for 11 years. 

She sued the school board in 1962 after it failed to renew 

her teaching contract. 

In its petition to the Supreme Court, the Legal Defense Fund, 

which is a separate organization from the NAACP, alleges that the 

school board's action in denying Mrs, Henry employment was 

arbitrary and violated her constitutional rights. 

The suit, which alleged that Mrs. Henry was not rehired be- 

cause of her and her husband's civil rights activities, was dismissa 

in Federal District Court, The Circuit Court of Appeals 

subsequently upheld the dismissal. 

In the trial of Mrs. Henry's suit, Coahoma County school 

officials testified that her contract was not renewed because her 

husband was a defendant in a libel suit and was also facing 

morals charges. 

The courts denied attorneys’ attempts to prove that the 

charges against Dr. Henry were part of a pattern of harassment for 

civil rights activity. 

Also denied was an attempt to challenge Mrs. Henry's dismiesat 
on grounds that charges against her husband should not effect = 
her qualifications as a teacher. 

Representing Mrs. Henry are Fund Director-Counsel Jack 
Greenberg, James M, Nabrit III and Derrick A. Bell Jr. of New York, 

and R, Jess Brown of Jackson, Mississippi. 

=30- 

Jesse DeVore, Jr., Director of Public Information—Night Number 212 Riverside 9-8487 Ss

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