Joseph Holt, Jr. relives the memory of his father losing his job as a reprisal for the family's efforts to achieve educational equality.
In 1956, two years after the Brown v. Board of Education decision that ruled segregation in public schools unconstitutional, Joseph and Elwyna Holt applied for their son, Joseph Jr., to attend the all-white Josephus Daniels Junior High School. In an effort to maintain segregation, the Raleigh School Board rejected the Holts' application, as well as their application to Needham Broughton High School the following year. The subsequent lawsuit, Holt v. City of Raleigh School Board, would determine whether Joseph would desegregate Needham Broughton High School.
The case was ultimately decided in favor of the school board on a legal technicality closely linked to two pieces of North Carolina legislation specifically crafted to uphold segregation — the 1955 North Carolina Pupil Assignment Act, and the Pearsall Plan.
Joseph is a guest on Children of Civil Rights, a documentary and panel discussion about the shared lived experiences among American heroes. Learn more at DNCR.NC.GOV/CivilRights
Joseph's daughter, Deborah Holt-Noel, made a documentary about the family's effort to integrate Raleigh Public Schools. Watch here: https://youtu.be/1OsSATwvlpo?si=6gxnqLGh8kJH5vwP