Call to rehire teacher

50 years ago

A proposed order by State Human Rights Commissioner Robert J. Magnum called for the rehiring of a black teacher by the Albany Board of Education and awarding her $5,000 for lost wages. Lola Johnson Cole had not been offered a contract and tenure in 1966 while a teacher at Philip Schuyler High School. Her complaint charged that the school’s principal discriminated against her. Magnum’s letter contended that the Albany Board of Education had ended Cole’s contract “because of her race and color and in violation of the Human Rights Law.”

— Times Union, June 2, 1970