United States v. Board of Education of Greene County, Mississippi

332 F.2d 40, 1964 U.S. App. LEXIS 5363
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
DecidedMay 15, 1964
Docket20212
StatusPublished
Cited by32 cases

This text of 332 F.2d 40 (United States v. Board of Education of Greene County, Mississippi) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Board of Education of Greene County, Mississippi, 332 F.2d 40, 1964 U.S. App. LEXIS 5363 (5th Cir. 1964).

Opinions

GEWIN, Circuit Judge.

This action was brought under 42 U.S. C.A. § 1971(b) which provides that “No person, * * * shall intimidate, threaten, coerce, or attempt to intimidate, threaten, or coerce any other person for the purpose of interfering with the. right of such other person to vote * * Subsections (c) and (d) of Section 1971 then provide that the Attorney General of the United States may seek an injunction or other civil relief to enforce the provisions of subsection (b). The action below sought injunctive relief pursuant to subsection (d). The person alleged to have been intimidated was a Negro school teacher in Greene County, Mississippi. The alleged act of intimidation was the refusal of the appellee school Board to rehire the teacher at the expiration of her contract.1

[42]*42The teacher, Mrs. Talbert, was hired by the Greene County Board of Education to teach in the all Negro Greene County Vocational School for the 1961-62 term. As is the policy with all new teachers, she was on a “trial basis” for the first year. Her contract contained no clause for renewal. Her duties were: to be the librarian; to teach business classes; to assist the principal, Hayes, in some clerical matters; and to handle a “home-room.” An assistant principal, Randall, assigned her to a home room of sixty-three pupils. Talbert resented this and refused to speak to Randall for the balance of the school year. The library was in poor condition when Talbert first went to work, and it was her duty to build it up. The principal, Hayes, said that Talbert “did not produce in work to the extent that teachers of equal ability and training produced” and that as a librarian she was “very lax on the job,” that her work “was not up to par.”2 He complained to Mr. Martin, the Superintendent of Education, about .Talbert, her work, and her uncooperative attitude toward him and Randall, his assistant. Although Hayes complimented Talbert on her work, he explained that this was a method of achieving harmony at the school;- and as he stated, commendation “always serves to lift you up.”

. In April, 1961, Talbert attempted to register to vote in adjoining George County where she resided, but without success. She then filed an affidavit with the Justice Department complaining of the Registrar’s refusal to register her. On April 16, the Justice Department sued to require her registration. Mrs. Talbert learned about the suit for the first time when she read an account of it in the Mobile Register of April 17, 1961. On April 25, Hayes informed Talbert that Martin had refused to recommend the renewal of her contract to the school Board for the 1961-62 term.3 In the meantime, Talbert had made application for a teaching position in Magnolia High School, Moss Point, Jackson County, an adjoining county, on April 20. This application was made before she discovered that her contract would not be renewed; and she had been conditionally accepted for employment. In fact, on the trial, Talbert testified that she was not sure that she would teach in Greene County even if the Government were successful in this suit.

Martin, the Superintendent, who refused to recommend Talbert for further [43]*43employment, testified that since the Board had a policy of not reinstating teachers involved in litigation, and since litigation is not conducive to good work from the litigant, the fact that Talbert was involved in litigation might have had some influence on his decision. However, he stated that other reasons prompted his refusal to recommend her to the Board, such as her uncooperative attitude at the school.4 The Government attempted to rebut the testimony of Superintendent Martin by witnesses who testified to her good work at school, and her efforts to improve the library, etc.

The appellees proved that at least two of the teachers at the school are qualified, registered voters; Talbert’s replacement, Turner, was both Hayes’ and Martin’s first choice at the time they hired Talbert, but they were under the impression that Turner was unavailable when Talbert was employed; none of the appellees has anything at all to do with registration or voting in George County or even in Greene County; and that the employment of several other teachers had been terminated on previous occasions for being involved in litigation.

This suit was filed on June 16, 1962, and on June 23, 1962, the Court heard and denied the application for a temporary restraining order on affidavits, counter-affidavits, and exhibits. Denial was based upon the conclusion by the Court that it was being asked to restrain the hiring of another teacher to replace Teacher Talbert, which had already been accomplished prior to the time the complaint was filed. The case was tried before the Court on its merits and evidence was taken for approximately four days during which time over twenty witnesses were heard and a number of exhibits were introduced in evidence. /f]

After all evidence had been received, the Trial Court made a rather extensive finding of facts which may be summarized as follows: The employment contract existing between Talbert and the Greene County Board of Education related only to the 1961-62 session, was completely performed by both parties on May 18, 1962, and it contained no provision for renewal, extension or rehiring.. Talbert never received any promises,, express or implied, that she would be reemployed and as a matter of fact she [44]*44made application for a teaching position in another school before being informed that she was not to be rehired. She was first recommended by her principal but Superintendent Martin would not accept the recommendation and the principal was requested to recommend another teacher. Generally new teachers are employed on a one year basis. A replacement named Turner was employed to take the place of Talbert and she was employed at a lesser salary and was preferred by the principal and the Superintendent over Talbert. In view of the fact that the Superintendent made no recommendation to the Board, the matter of rehiring Talbert was never considered or acted upon by the Board. The affidavit filed with the Justice Department by Talbert was instrumental in inducing a restraining order of the Court which permitted Talbert to register as a qualified voter and to vote in the June, 1962, primary election. The Superintendent categorically denied that his refusal to recommend re-employment was motivated by any civil rights activities ; and asserted that such refusal was not designed to intimidate, coerce, threaten, or otherwise influence Talbert or other Negro teachers against registering to vote, or voting, although the Superintendent did disapprove of Talbert becoming involved in any type of litigation, and had refused to rehire other teachers for the same reason not long before this suit was filed. It was concluded that none of the defendants ever did anything in violation of the civil rights of Talbert or any other Negro and that the plaintiff had failed in its proof. The Court considered that Talbert had no vested right to a new contract and that none of the defendants, by failure to rehire her, did any act with any intent or purpose to intimidate, threaten, coerce, or create any apprehension in the mind of any Negro about registering to vote or voting and that the failure to rehire did not have such effect.

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Bluebook (online)
332 F.2d 40, 1964 U.S. App. LEXIS 5363, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-board-of-education-of-greene-county-mississippi-ca5-1964.