Corinthian Clay Nutter
Corinthian Clay Nutter, an inspiring teacher and civil rights activist, passed away on February 11th at the age of 97. She was best known for her efforts in the 1940s to help desegregate Merriam schools. At that time, she was a teacher at Walker School, an all-black institution, in an area known as South Park (since annexed into Merriam). The local school district built the new, modern South Park Elementary School in 1947, but only allowed the white children to attend. In protest, the parents of the black students filed a lawsuit against the school district. They also refused to send their children to the sub-standard Walker School and instead organized a walk-out. Students were instructed in private homes by Mrs. Nutter and another teacher. The community held fundraisers and received financial support from the NAACP to pay some compensation to the teachers.
The case resulting from the law suit, Webb v. School District No. 90, eventually was heard by the Kansas Supreme Court. Mrs. Nutter testified before the court, later saying, “I felt it was the right thing to do and that is what I did.” The final outcome was a ruling in favor of the students’ right to attend the new modern school, five years before the landmark 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision on Brown v. Board of Education.
Mrs. Nutter, having played an important role in the Walker case, continued teaching in Johnson County until her 1972 retirement from the Olathe School District. She was also involved in the community in a number of ways. She actively supported the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, the American Association of University Woman and the Northeast chapter of the NAACP. She was also a member of Paseo Baptist Church where she had attended services since moving to the Kansas City area in the mid 1920s. The community, in turn, recognized her contributions. She was honored many times during her lifetime, most recently in 2003 by the Mid-America Education Hall of Fame.
Understanding the importance of the Walker case, Mrs. Nutter openly shared her knowledge of the events with members of the community. She had donated many of her photographs and papers to the Johnson County Museums so they could be preserved and shared with future generations. She also was a member of the Friends of Johnson County Museums and regularly brought her family to the museum to show them the area of the exhibit that highlights the 1947 desegregation case. Throughout her life, she was an advocate for education for all young people, regardless of background. And that is her lasting legacy.
--ALBUM vol. 17, no. 2 (spring 2004)