Reverend Alfred Z. Kelley (1912-1994) was a black East Nashville barber and the plaintiff in Kelley v. Board of Education (Nashville) filed on September 23, 1955 on behalf of his son, Robert, who at the age of 14 had been turned away from attending East High School in Nashville, TN. The case was filed one year after the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision outlawed school segregation nationally and was considered to be the start of the legal push to desegregate Nashville public schools.
In 1957, the Nashville school board adopted the grade-a- year desegregation plan, initiating school desegregation for the rising first-graders only. The plan gave no relief to the older students in the community. The case of Kelley v. Board of Education was not resolved until 1998.
Biography edit
After serving his country in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War, he returned to Nashville and opened Kelley’s Barber Shop, an active enterprise for over 50 years. He also taught at Bowman’s Barber College, and was the first black secretary of the local Barber’s Union. His numerous achievements include the following: one term as president of the Nashville branch of the NAACP; participation in the historic March on Washington; Sergeant-at-Arms, Tennessee State Senate; Associate Minister, First Baptist Church, East Nashville; 32nd degree Mason; licensed funeral director; and accomplished soloist. He was married to Robbie Huff Kelley for 54 years and was blessed with four children, Robert, Ellen, A.Z. Jr., and Canzada.
Sources to Use edit
“Soon thereafter, on September 23, 1955, Looby, Williams, and Marshall filed suit against the Nashville city schools on behalf of 21 African-American children, one of whom was 14-year-old Robert W. Kelley, who had been turned away from East Junior High School. His father, A. Z. ‘Kelley, a barber, agreed to be the lead plaintiff, so the case was named Kelley v. Board of Education. (By historical coincidence, this action came a hundred years after the opening of Nashville's first public school, Hume High and Grammar School, for white boys and girls, in September 1855; Trimble, the city’s first school for blacks, was opened in 1870, during the post-Civil War Reconstruction era.) “Walking into History: The Beginning of School Desegregation in Nashville A Narrative by John Egerton 2008.”
“When the Supreme Court ruled on Brown, he (Looby) had immediately filed suit in Nashville on behalf of a black barber named A. Z. Kelley whose son had been denied access to a nearby white school. That had started the beginnings of local school desegregation.” (The Children, David Halberstam 1998)
“One year after the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision outlawed school segregation nationally, Rev. A. Z. Kelley, Sr., a black East Nashville barber, challenged the segregation of the Nashville public schools. On behalf of his oldest son, Robert, Rev. Kelley filed suit as lead plaintiff against the Nashville Board of Education. As a result of this lawsuit, the federal district court directed the school board to desegregate the Nashville public school system in 1957. However, the case was not fully resolved until 1998, making it one of the longest running court cases in Tennessee history.” (http://www.kennedyms.mnps.org/Page33503.aspx, A.Z. Kelley Elementary School) A.Z. Kelley Elementary School 5834 Pettus Road, Antioch, TN 37013 Banner clipping: Mar 31, 1954 from the series “What Religion Means to Us as a Family” Kelley was a deacon in the First Baptist Church of East Nashville. Kelley was a Mason, a Shriner and a member of the Baptist Training Union. He was secretary-treasurer of the Barbers Local 721 and sang in the church choir. Kelley had been a barber since his discharge from the Navy in 1942. He served two years. He was a member of American Legion Post 6. Banner clipping: Dec 24, 1958 “Kelley Elected President of Local NAACP.” He succeeded Rev. Kelly Miller Smith.