JSU political science professor Isaiah Madison is the ‘architect’ of the historic Ayers lawsuit.
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PIONEERS PUSH FOR EQUALITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION BY TOMMIEA P. JACKSON
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sk Isaiah Madison about the Ayers case and he can talk for hours. Rightfully so. The Jackson State University political science professor spent countless days and nights working with the Black Mississippians Council on Higher Education – a grassroots organization he’d helped to found – which gave rise to the case before Jake Ayers Sr. was named lead plaintiff. Madison is known as the “architect” of the historic lawsuit, actually writing the 37-page complaint that, at the time, was the largest lawsuit filed in the state of Mississippi. The document contained what he called a “three-pronged attack” to enhance Jackson State, Mississippi Valley State and Alcorn State universities; equalize education and employment for blacks at white schools; and increase the presence of blacks on the Board of Trustees of Mississippi’s Institutions of Higher Learning. The 1975 suit sought $1 billion. “It grew out of the people, not top down from lawyers and courts,” says Madison. “It started off as a true citizen’s movement, an
alliance of African Americans from across the state, made up of civil rights activists, students, alumni, SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee), CORE (Congress of Racial Equality) and the NAACP.”
Jake Ayers
Separate but unequal was a familiar experience to Madison growing up in the small DeSoto County community of Lake Cormorant, Miss. Training at Howard Law School prepared him for the painstaking challenge before him. Once Madison returned to Mississippi in 1973, he joined with attorneys of the Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. Madison also met up with his high school classmate, Dr. Leslie Burl McLemore, a JSU associate professor of history and political science who became vice chair of the Black Mississippians Council. “We spent two years organizing, listening and conducting research,” says McLemore. “It was labor intensive to say the least.” It was during one of those meetings that Jake Ayers Sr. became the voice to lead the plaintiffs in the suit. A father, husband and active community member, Ayers’ vision for his children embodied everything for which the lawsuit stood. “It was clear that Jake Ayers was a great teacher,” Madison says. “Everybody knew Jake Ayers would be the plaintiff.”