Harriet Elizabeth Brown (sometimes called "Libby") (February 10, 1907 — January 1, 2009) was a

Calvert County Calvert County is located in the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2020 census, the population was 92,783. Its county seat is Prince Frederick. The county's name is derived from the family name of the Barons of Baltimore, the proprietors of t ...

school teacher who pushed for equal pay, regardless of race, in

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

education. With the help of

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...

attorney

Thurgood Marshall Thurgood Marshall (July 2, 1908 – January 24, 1993) was an American civil rights lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1967 until 1991. He was the Supreme Court's first African-A ...

, Brown sued the Calvert County Board of Education in 1937. At the time, African-American teachers were paid significantly less than their Euro-American colleagues. Brown was paid almost 50% less than her Euro-American counterparts with similar credentials. Calvert County settled on December 27, 1937, and agreed to equalize pay. Brown's suit followed a 1936 lawsuit brought by Marshall and the NAACP on behalf of

Montgomery County Public Schools Montgomery County Public Schools may refer to: *Montgomery County Public Schools (Maryland) *Montgomery County Public Schools (Virginia) Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) is the school district serving Montgomery County, Virginia. Schools P ...

principal William B. Gibbs Jr. Montgomery County's school board settled that case as well, and agreed to equalize teacher pay regardless of race. In 1939, the Maryland Teachers Pay Equalization Law was passed, the first Maryland state equalization law. Brown was inducted into the Maryland Women's Hall of Fame in 1994.

Teaching

Brown began working in

Calvert County Public Schools Calvert County Public Schools is a public school district serving all of Calvert County, Maryland. The district is governed by a six-person Board of Education, five of which are elected by the public in non-partisan elections, and a student elect ...

in 1931. She worked there for more than 30 years.

Death

Harriet Elizabeth Brown died on January 1, 2009, at the age of 101. She is buried at Southern Memorial Gardens in

Dunkirk, Maryland Dunkirk is a census-designated place (CDP) in Calvert County, Maryland, United States. The population was 2,521 at the 2010 census. Geography Dunkirk is located in northwestern Calvert County at (38.713499, −76.670070). Its western border is t ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Harriet Elizabeth 1907 births 2009 deaths African-American women educators 20th-century African-American women 20th-century American women educators Schoolteachers from Maryland American civil rights activists Activists for African-American civil rights Educators from Baltimore Morgan State University alumni