Margaret Just Butcher

In the early 1960s she taught in two cities in Morocco, and then served as a cultural affairs attache in Paris, returning to Washington, D.C., in 1968.

Following the Brown v. Board of Education (1954) ruling by the US Supreme Court, she pressed city officials to proceed with desegregating the schools.

Butcher is also known for her collaborative work with philosopher and cultural leader Alain Locke, who had been a mentor at Howard University.

[11] Butcher found discrepancies between the schools for white and black students and called out the inequity in the classrooms.

[12] From 1954 to 1955, she worked with Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund as a special education consultant for their suit about segregation in schools.

[13] After the Supreme Court ruled that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional, Butcher warned there were additional fights against discrimination facing black people in America.

[16] Butcher was open about her work for the NAACP and publicly criticized Corning's plan to delay integration in Washington schools.

[17] She discussed the plans to integrate the schools on behalf of the NAACP at the annual meeting of the Newport News branch in 1954.

[18] In 1955, Butcher continued to speak out against gradual integration, saying that the Washington schools were still largely segregated and that waiting would not accomplish their goals.

[3] During this period, Virginia and other Southern states conducted massive resistance; in some instances, school districts closed rather than achieve any integration.

[2] Butcher wrote The Negro in American Culture, based on the notes of her mentor and friend, Alain Locke and furthering his work.

[24][2][25] When Locke became sick, Butcher helped care for him, visiting him at home daily, preparing meals for him, and taking him to the hospital.