Harkless v. Sweeney Ruling Awards Back Pay to 10 Black Teachers

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December 27, 1978

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Press Releases, Volume 6. Harkless v. Sweeney Ruling Awards Back Pay to 10 Black Teachers, 1978. aea6117c-bb92-ee11-be37-00224827e97b. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/798be3bd-e587-4859-b333-b70217121a5f/harkless-v-sweeney-ruling-awards-back-pay-to-10-black-teachers. Accessed December 06, 2025.

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NEWS RELEASE DRAFT 

HARKLESS v. SWEENEY BILD 

Today the District Coutt for the South District of Texas awarded 

$372,000 in back pay to ten black teachers who were discharged in xn 1966 

On account of their race. 

This award concluded a thirteen year legal battle brought by the NAACP 

Legal Defense Fund to obtain relief for these teachers. After two trials 

and two appeals to the Fifth Sixkux Circuit Court, LDF was finally able in 

1977 to obtain a decision that the teachers were discharged for racial 

reasons. One teacher will receive as much as $120,000. 

In 1974, another discrimination suit was filed also in the Fifth Cirunit. 

The Courts held that victims of employment discrimination should be restored 

to their"rightful place" through the compensation of back pay. Henceforth, 

the $372,000 to be received hy the plaintiffs should xemedy to the fullest 

extant tke lossdaof income an@ beadrits incurred as a reault of the dis- 
crimination. Aside frem the forementioned losses, factored_into the back 

pay consideratinn are expenses incurred by the plaintiffs in seeking ane onee 

While the apparent success of Harkless v. Sweeney rests with the up- 

holding of the plaintiffs’ compaaints and the issuance of back pay, it may not 

be easy to ignore the unfortunate events experienced by the teachers during 

this lengthy litigation. Although the teachers had among them an average 

of 15 years ¥eaching experience, several of them were not able to find 

teaching jogs or comparable employment in the Sweeney area. One of the teachers 

worked as a nurse's aide which yielded only a small portion of her salary 

were she employed in her profession. Some of them were forced to relocate to 

other communities for various reasons. Ironically, two fo the plaintiffs 



NEWS RELEASE 

HARKLESS v. SWEENEY Page Two 

will never a witness a successful Harkéess nor pessonally recover their 

losses; however, their children will inherit the back pay compensation 

as a result of their parents’ death.

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Harkless v. Sweeney Ruling Awards Back Pay to 10 Black Teachers

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