Local civil rights pioneer left indelible mark

1:40 AM, Apr. 8, 2013  |  Comments
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Acadiana lost part of its civil rights history Thursday with the death of Helma Barabin Constantine. She was 99.

It's true that few people will recognize Constantine's name or associate her with the Civil Rights movement in this state, but she was a pioneer and one of the driving forces behind the 1954 desegregation lawsuit that forced Southwestern Louisiana Institute to open its doors to black students. SLI is now known as the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

Although she worked for equality quietly, Constantine's actions were nonetheless courageous and groundbreaking.

In February, she received the Lafayette City-Parish Council's Distinguished Citizen Award for her contributions to local society, a saga that began more than five decades ago.

In 1954, the Civil Rights movement was in its infancy. It was the year of Brown vs. the Board of Education, and the year before Rosa Parks refused to sit in the back of the bus in Montgomery, Ala. It was also the year that Helma Constantine's daughter, Clara Dell Constantine Broussard, who last year preceded her mother in death, and three other students - Martha Jane Conway, Shirley Taylor and Charles Singleton - challenged SLI's all-white attendance policy.

The events leading up to that point began when Constantine, the mother of four and secretary of the local NAACP chapter, attended a conference in New Orleans, her surviving daughter, Joyce Constantine Henson, told The Daily Advertiser on Thursday. There, Constantine met New Orleans NAACP attorney A.P. Tureaud and then-legal counsel to the national NAACP Thurgood Marshall, who later became the nation's first black Supreme Court justice.

Henson, now a retired teacher, had just graduated from Southern University.

Her mother told Marshall that her children had to attend college in another city instead of the university in their hometown, Lafayette.

"He said, 'You're just who we're looking for,' " Henson said.

A lawsuit was filed on behalf of the four students and they ultimately prevailed.

It must have required tremendous determination and courage on the part of both mother and daughter to take such an unpopular stand in the cultural climate of the time.

Henson recalls the "great reservations" of the black community.

"Several of them said, 'You're moving too fast,' " Henson said.

It was hardest on her sister, Henson recalled. She said the younger Constantine was tormented and ostracized by students and professors alike and went home in tears every day. But their mother would remind her of the magnitude of what they were doing.

And while it was a daily struggle for the young plaintiffs, desegregation of SLI was relatively peaceful compared to the later desegregation of other universities On some campuses, federal troops had to be sent in and riots broke out, resulting in injuries and in some cases, deaths.

At one point, Henson asked her mother how she was feeling about the events that were unfolding.

"She said, 'Scared,' " Henson recalled.

Henson asked her mother if she was frightened enough to back off.

The answer was no.

It was a victory not only for Constantine and her daughter but for generations of black students who have followed.

Constantine Broussard and her co-plaintiffs were honored in 2004 by the UL Lafayette Alumni Association for their courageous contribution to the university.

It's difficult for many of us to fully understand the hardships Celestine and her family endured, all in the name of equality.

The Civil Rights movement was bolstered by giants who led the nation to equality under the law. It was also strengthened by extraordinary people like Helma Constantine and the four young students who stood up and made their voices heard.

As her mother lay dying , Henson said she told her, "Old Girl, you've had a good life."

And it was one that made a better life possible for countless thousands who came after her.


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