Harriet Elizabeth Brown

Harriet Elizabeth Brown, a teacher during racial segregation, sued the Calvert County Board of Education in 1937 for equalization of pay.

(2/10/1907 – 1/1/2009)

Harriet Elizabeth (Libby) Brown was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1907. Her father William worked as a cook in a cafe on Carls Street. Her mother worked as a servant for a private family before marriage; her grandmother Sophie and aunt Elizabeth worked as laundresses, helping to support the family and put the girls through school. The family moved to Philadelphia when Harriet was a student at the Philadelphia Normal School for Girls. At the time, “Normal” schools educated future teachers. She later graduated from Morgan State College. Brown was educated with the idea that she was one of a group of exceptional leaders, with deep responsibilities to the Black community.

Harriet and her sister Regina arrived from Philadelphia to Calvert County in 1931 to teach in the African American elementary schools during segregation. After moving to Calvert County, the sisters soon joined the Maryland State Colored Teachers’ Association where young Thurgood Marshall, just a few years out of law school, spoke encouraging Black teachers to organize and demand equality in pay.

At the time, Harriet Brown, teaching for 6 years, earned $600 a year, while white teachers earned $1100 per year. She knew that teachers in nearby counties, who had tried suing their school boards for equal pay, had been threatened and harassed until they dropped their cases. She courageously chose to join the effort for pay equity.  In her own words:

“A petition to compel the Board of Education of Calvert County to adopt and establish salary schedules for teachers and principals in Calvert County, without distinction as to race or color of teacher was filed on my behalf in the Circuit Court by the legal staff of the NAACP. The petition further stated that the discriminations in salaries were arbitrary and in violation of the 14th Amendment of the Constitution of the United States. That case became the turning point of the salary equalization fight in Maryland and what happened in Maryland affected the entire South.”

—H. Elizabeth Brown memories in “Fifty Years of Education in Calvert County,”                            Bicentennial Committee Report of CRTA, 1975.

With Thurgood Marshall representing her, they fought for and achieved their goal in Calvert County in 1939. Their work and determination led to the 1939 passing of the Maryland Teachers Pay Equalization Law. Maryland became the first state with an equalization law. Brown was inducted into the Maryland Women’s Hall of Fame in 1994.

Did you know?

Harriet Brown was principal at Mt. Hope Elementary when schools in Calvert County continued to be segregated by race.

Southern Maryland teachers, even after they received equal pay, still had difficulty finding places to live since housing continued to be segregated. They could not live where they wanted to live.

Segregation was enforced in southern Maryland schools, PTA’s, housing, medical care, restaurants, beaches, and theaters into the 1970s

Teachers for the African American schools were recruited from out of the county since Calvert’s schools for Black students only went to the 7th grade.

Calvert county historian and resident, Michael Kent remembers…

“Thirty years later, Miss Brown was the principal at Mt. Hope Elementary School. Mt. Hope was still a segregated school, and one of the students was this writer.  Miss Brown was not only the principal, but she also oversaw the meager library.  Once a week was library day for each class, and Miss Brown would read us a story.  Afterwards, she would help us pick out books to take home and read.  It would be several decades later before I would know how much more Miss Brown had accomplished, besides teaching me the joy of books.” His quote is from the Marland Historical Trust blog page (see resources)

Additional Resources

Bin, Trisha. “Harriet Elizabeth Brown: Behind the Scenes of History.” The Forecast, The Student News Site of Huntingtown High School, 27 April 2022, https://hhsnews.net/3098/our-community/harriet-elizabeth-brown-behind-the-scenes-of-history/

Calvert Library. Inspiring African American Women of Calvert County, 2017. Book (available online).

Goodard, Richlyn F. Persistence, Perseverance and Power: History of African American Schools in Calvert County, Maryland 1865-1965. Maryland Humanities Council, 1995. Book

“Harriet E. Brown.” Washington Post, 2009,

Meman, Amelia. “Harriet Elizabeth Brown (1907-2009).” Archives of Maryland (Biographical Series),2015.

“Harriet Elizabeth Brown: The Quiet Heroine of 1937″, Michael Gayhart Kent, May 20, 2016,

Maryland Historical Trust Blog https://mdhistoricaltrust.wordpress.com/2016/05/20/harriet-elizabeth-brown-the-quiet-heroine-of-1937/