When Freddie Lee Stebbins Jefferson died Oct. 27, South Florida lost more than an educator, community leader and Palm Beach Post columnist. Also lost: a living link to a civil rights hero — her uncle, Charles H. Stebbins Jr. Here’s an update of a 2004 Post Time column:
Stebbins wanted to be paid the same as white teachers. But he never benefited from the victory he helped achieve. Long since fired from his teaching job, he was waiting tables in New York the day in 1941 when a federal judge’s ruling set a stunning precedent. It was a step toward the landmark 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision.
White teachers with five years of experience had received a $25 raise. Furious black counterparts, who got no raise, founded the Palm Beach County Teachers Association and about 85 percent of the county’s 115 black teachers joined.
The group brought in Thurgood Marshall, later the Supreme Court’s first black justice. They needed a name to put on the lawsuit against the county school board. Charles Stebbins volunteered.
The Arcadia native taught social studies at West Palm Beach’s Industrial High School until he was fired. A school board official offered him $500 and his job back to drop the case. His wife was ill — she would die in a year and a half — but he declined.
He was blackballed throughout the state,” Freddie Jefferson said in 1999. “He was the troublemaker.” Also, the black union reneged on a promise to pay him a year’s salary if he was fired.
Stebbins moved to New York, then served in the Navy, where he filed two discrimination suits. He worked 32 years for the Federal Home Loan Bank Board, where he sued for promotions, but failed. He never returned to education, and died in 1991.
Tags: African Americans, black icons, Charles Stebbins, Freddie Stebbins Jefferson
To mark Black History Month, our February columns will profile local black personalities who’ve made historical contributions in Palm Beach County.
Charles Stebbins Jr. was the Rosa Parks of Palm Beach County’s black teachers. He never benefited from the battle for which he agreed to be the poster boy; the day it ended in victory, he was waiting tables in New York.
But a federal judge’s decision that the county’s black teachers must be paid the same as whites set a stunning precedent in 1941. And it was a step toward the landmark 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education decision that outlawed school segregation.
White teachers with five years of experience had received a $25 raise in 1941 to $140 a month – about $1,400 a month in 1990s dollars. Furious black counterparts, who got no raise, founded the Palm Beach County Teachers Association, and about 85 percent of the county’s 115 black teachers joined.
The next step was a federal lawsuit. The group needed a name to put atop it. One person stepped forward: veteran educator Charles H. Stebbins Jr.
The Arcadia native taught social studies at West Palm Beach’s black Industrial High School until he was terminated. A school board official offered him $500 and his job back if he’d drop the case. He declined. He was then blackballed throughout the state as a troublemaker. Also, the black union reneged on a promise to pay him a year’s salary if he was fired.
Stebbins moved to New York, then served in the Navy, where he filed two discrimination suits. He worked 32 years for the Federal Home Loan Bank Board in Washington, where he sued again. The suits, for promotions, failed. His fights eventually opened doors for black people behind him. He never returned to education, and died in 1991.
Tags: African Americans, Black history month, black icons, Charles Stebbins
Charles H. Stebbins Jr. wanted to be paid the same as a white teacher. In his quest, he became the Rosa Parks of Palm Beach County’s public teachers.
Stebbins never benefited from the battle for which he agreed to be the poster boy; the day it ended in victory, he was waiting tables in New York. But a federal judge’s decision that the county’s black teachers must be paid the same as whites set a stunning precedent in 1941. And it was a step toward the landmark 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education decision that outlawed school segregation.
Palm Beach County’s white teachers with five years of experience had received a $25 raise in 1941 to $140 a month. Furious black teachers, who got no raise, founded the Palm Beach County Teachers Association, and about 85 percent of the county’s 115 black teachers joined.
The next step was a federal lawsuit. The group brought in NAACP attorney Thurgood Marshall, later the U.S. Supreme Court’s first black justice. The group needed a name to put atop the suit: Stebbins.
“He was not afraid. He had the guts,” recalls Delray Beach educator C. Spencer Pompey Jr.
Stebbins taught social studies at West Palm Beach’s black Industrial High School – until his moment with history. Stebbins was fired. A school board official offered him $500 and his job back if he’d drop the case. His wife was ill with tuberculosis – she would die a year and a half later – but he declined. The black union reneged on a promise to pay him a year’s salary if he lost his job.
“He was blackballed throughout the state,” said Stebbins Jefferson, his niece and a Palm Beach Post columnist. “He was the troublemaker.”
He never returned to education, and he died in 1991.
- ELIOT KLEINBERG
Tags: African Americans, black icons, Charles Stebbins, schools
