The Fight Continues: The 50th Anniversary of M.C. Moore v.

Tangipahoa Parish
School Board and the Fight to Ensure Equality for All Children and Employees in
the School System
Hammond, LAMay 3, 2015, will commemorate the 50th Anniversary of Mr. M.C.
Moores desegregation lawsuit against the Tangipahoa Parish School System. The lawsuit
was initially filed on behalf of his daughter, Fannie Moore, who was disenfranchised and
not given an opportunity to receive an equitable and fair education, which is guaranteed
under the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. The name of
this case was later changed to Joyce Marie Moore v. Tangipahoa Parish School System,
and was named after his younger daughter, thus becoming a Class Action Lawsuit with
the Plaintiffs being the Class of Black parents and their children.
Fifty years later, the question remains whether or not education in the lives of Black
Children matter; the answer is emphatically, yes it does, because the fight continues for
equity in this school system. Unfortunately, there is very little resolve towards settling
this decades-old desegregation lawsuit.
Moreover, many are keen to talk about or write pieces about what happens or does not
happen in the public school system in Tangipahoa Parish. Consequently, I process and
attempt to find balance with personal ties to the conflicts in Tangipahoa Parish race
relations and injustices found in our school system that have had my attention for decades
now.
As we begin to reflect on the importance of this lawsuit, we think of the lawsuit being
filed in 1965. As a result of this filing, Mr. Moore was ostracized. For instance, he and
his family were threatened, and his livelihood and means of providing for his family were
taken away through his logging business being sabotaged, which resulted in his having to
bake cakes to sell to provide for his family. Men guarded his home at night after his home
was shot into early one morning. His wife heroically crawled through grass and weeds to
a neighbors home to call the police because their telephone lines were cut on the outside
of their home. Those bullet holes remain in Mr. Moores home to this very day. Despite
having his life threatened and his livelihood compromised, Mr. Moore pressed on. Thank
you, Mr. Moore, for your courage and tenacity in ensuring equality for African-American
children, and ultimately all children.
After this case was filed and opened in the United States District Court for the Eastern
District of Louisiana, with the late Honorable Alvin Benjamin Rubin as the presiding
judge, the Tangipahoa Parish School System was forced to integrate its public schools in
1969. Judge Rubin ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, stating, in pertinent part, that the
Tangipahoa Parish School System was segregated and did not provide equitable
educational access to African-American students. As a result, the school board was
ordered to reinstate the jobs of all terminated African-American employees as one of the
wrongs the Tangipahoa Parish School System committed following forced integration in
1969.

The plaintiffs case was led by Attorney Nelson Dan Taylor, Sr., who is now the Lead
Attorney in the Moore Case. This case was Attorney Taylors first case as an attorney for
the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Legal
Defense Fund. Unfortunately, the school system did not comply with Judge Rubins
order, and the case became dormant following Honorable Alvin Benjamin Rubin's
untimely death.
The case was later reopened in 2007 at the urging of the Greater Tangipahoa Parish
Branch NAACP because of numerous complaints of the school systems wronging of
African-American children and African American employees. Evidence was provided to
prove that the same segregated conditions still exist in Tangipahoa Parish School System.
The test case used to reopen the M.C. Moore desegregation case was the case of Coach
Alden Foster, who became the first African-American head high school football coach
hired in Tangipahoa Parish. Coach John Williams was reportedly the first AfricanAmerican head high school football coach in Tangipahoa Parish. However, after speaking
to several others, including Coach Williams, we discovered that he was not given the
position of head football coach at Hammond High School in Hammond, Louisiana,
despite being appointed by Judge Rubin. Instead, Coach Carmen Moore, a white coach,
was named as the head football coach at Hammond High.

The discourse of this article is too long to write all of what has happened over the past
fifty years in the Moore Case, however, a Master Thesis done by Dr. Wayne Brumfield is
found in the Southeastern Louisiana University public library.
As we commemorate the lawsuits 50th anniversary, let us remember to thank God for the
stamina of Mr. Moore, his trials endured, and triumphs he and others made for every
child attending school in the Tangipahoa Parish School System. Let us be mindful, as
well as thankful for all of the accomplishments seen and unseen in this case having been

reopened, because without such, sitting conservative judges would have dismissed this
case due to its inactivity.
While there are some thirty-six unopened desegregation cases, let us be mindful that the
M.C. Moore lawsuit has set a precedent for subsequent desegregation cases. As President
of the GTPB NAACP, and as I walk in the shoes of the late Mr. M.C. Moore, I feel his
pain many times, and my heart breaks as I continue to witness the disenfranchisement of
African-American children in the Tangipahoa Parish School System. Despite the many
wrongs of this school system, I am reminded by Ecclesiastes 9:11 that the race is not
given to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor the bread to the wise, nor yet riches to
men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill, but time and chance happened to
them all. With these words in mind, the fight for equality will not end, and it cannot until
justice rolls down like a mighty stream for every student and employee in this school
system. There can be no other way, and no person will be left behind.
The Moore family and Antoinette Harrell has organized several events to commemorate
the legacy of M.C. Moore. They began by getting the Parish Council to issue a
Proclamation proclaiming May 3, 2015 as M.C. Moore Educational Awareness Day. On
Wednesday, April 29, a press conference will be held at 10:00 am at the African American
Heritage Museum in Hammond, LA., at 1:45 p.m. that Wednesday afternoon Joyce Marie
Moore, Henry Jackson, Charles Terry and Pat Morris, President of the Tangipahoa Parish
NAACP will speak at Southeastern Louisiana University Department of Sociology,
Professor Rebecca Hensley. A wreath laying ceremony at Holly Garden cemetery will
take place on Sunday, May 3rd at 4:00 pm, and on Sunday evening at 6:00 pm, a worship
service will be at the First Church of God In Christ, Attorney Nelson Taylor will be the
keynote speakers. On Monday, May 4, at 6:00 pm a panel discussion will be held at the
First Church of God in Christ. On Tuesday, May 5, the Moore Family will be featured on
NOATV Cable Access television Nurturing Our Roots Educational Talk Show with
producer and host Antoinette Harrell. The Moore Family are asking citizens of
Tangipahoa Parish to join them as they honor the legacy of M.C. Moore a pioneer who
changed the educational system in Tangipahoa Parish to ensure that African American
children get a quality education.
Contact
Patricia Morris
President GTPB NAACP
TV Host The PM Talk Show
(985) 747-9488
Patricia_Morris11@aol.com
http://goo.gl/N3J2LA