May 15, 1956: Elloree 21 Refuse to Sign Anti-NAACP Teacher Oath

In March 1956, the South Carolina general assembly passed a number of laws meant to fight back against the desegregation mandated by the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Ed. One of these many repressive laws was an anti-NAACP oath that prohibited any government employee — local, county, or state — and their families from being members of the NAACP.

On May 15, 1956, 21 teachers at the Elloree Training School in Elloree, South Carolina refused to sign this oath and were subsequently fired.

The 21 teachers who lost their positions for their refusal to comply with the anti-NAACP oath standing in front of the Elloree Training School in Elloree, South Carolina, on May 15, 1956. This photograph appeared in Jet magazine on June 7, 1956. (Image courtesy of photographer Cecil Williams, Cecil Williams Civil Rights Museum, Orangeburg, South Carolina.) Source: Florida Atlantic University

Laura Fishman, one of the Elloree 21, said in an interview years later,

The principal and his wife called a meeting with all the teachers in the conference room and we discussed it and we decided we were going to tear up that affidavit and send it in with our resignation. And that’s what we did. Because I was a member. (laugh) but even if I wasn’t a member, I wouldn’t have signed that affidavit. I couldn’t believe they sent that to us.

With NAACP lawyers, the Elloree 21 went to court in September 1956, in the case Bryan v. Austin, but South Carolina repealed the anti-NAACP oath before the case made it to the Supreme Court. It tooks years for some of the Elloree 21 to be hired as teachers again, with many having to travel far to do so.

The Orangeburg Branch NAACP honored the “Elloree 21” who resigned their jobs in 1956 rather than deny NAACP membership. Pictured, from left, are NAACP Freedom Fund Banquet Chairman Broadus Jamerson; “Elloree 21” members Laura Fleshman, Rosa Haigler Stroman and Hattie Fulton Anderson, and Orangeburg Branch NAACP President Barbara Johnson-Williams. Source: Cecil J. Williams and The Times and Democrat