Jerome Boykin Oral History

Born in Houma, Louisiana, Jerome Boykin attended an all-Black school more than 10 years after the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision. His parents filed a federal lawsuit to integrate the schools in Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana. Despite local resistance, Boykin and three other elementary school students integrated the Terrebonne Parish School System in 1966. Profoundly impacted by this experience, Boykin went on to become President of the Houma-Terrebonne Parish NAACP. He has served in this role for 30 years and is devoted to promoting civil rights in his community and beyond. Notably, in 2014, Boykin was represented by Legal Defense Fund lawyers once again, who filed a suit under the Voting Rights Act and the 14th and 15th Amendments in an attempt to change the voting method in the district that prevented Black voters from electing the candidate of their choice.