Harry Briggs, Sr. and his wife, Eliza Briggs, discuss participating in the landmark Brown v. Board of Education Case, and the effect it had on their lives.
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Harry Briggs, Sr.
In 1950, Harry Briggs, and his wife Eliza, were one of several sets of parents who filed suit against the school board in Clarendon County, South Carolina. A famous case followed, Briggs v. Eliot (1954), after Briggs led the fight to give students who were traveling to school by bus everyday equal treatment. (Eliot was the sitting school board president at the time of the case). Filing suit was the final resolution for Briggs, and the parents and minister (Reverend Joseph Armstrong De Laine) by whom he was supported, were ignored during their petition efforts. The board continued to deny black children living in separate communities buses to commute to school. In spite of the NAACP's help and the defense of Thurgood Marshall, the three judges assigned to the case ruled in favor of the school board. Soon after, Briggs was fired from his job as an attendant at a local gas station because had been so heavily involved in the case. Later, the Briggs succumbed to criticism and constant discrimination like the denial of credit, and moved out of South Carolina.
The Briggs' actions at the time were considered dangerous and radical. Today, they are remembered for having defied codes of restrictive behavior and oppression imposed by segregation. The case Briggs filed later merged with Brown v. Board of Education, a case that has had tremendous, positive ramifications for civil rights. Posthumously, Harry Briggs and his wife have been honored with Congressional Gold Medals. They wholeheartedly questioned the extent to which the country practiced adherence to equality for all and are therefore vital contributors to the Civil Rights Movement.
Civil Rights Era
Harry and Eliza Briggs and eighteen other black parents were the plaintiffs in the case Briggs v. Elliott. Briggs v. Elliott was eventually joined with four other lawsuits to form the famous case Brown v. Board of Education. In Brown v. Board of Education, the United States Supreme Court ruled that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. As a result of their legal battle against discrimination, Harry and Eliza Briggs both lost their jobs.
Bibliography
Information for this biography was gathered from the following sources:
- Interview with Harry Briggs, Sr. and Eliza Briggs, conducted by Blackside, Inc. on October 25, 1985, for Eyes on the Prize: America's Civil Rights Years (1954-1965). Washington University Libraries, Film and Media Archive, Henry Hampton Collection.
- http://www.teachersdomain.org/9-12/soc/ush/civil/briggs/index.html