A coach in Birmingham, Alabama, Roderick Jackson was not afraid to speak his mind. When he witnessed the inferior practice and game conditions provided for his girls’ high school basketball team, compared to those provided for the boys, he complained to school administrators, calling it as he saw it: unfair sex discrimination.
A coach in Birmingham, Alabama, Roderick Jackson was not afraid to speak his mind. When he witnessed the inferior practice and game conditions provided for his girls’ high school basketball team, compared to those provided for the boys, he complained to school administrators, calling it as he saw it: unfair sex discrimination. His subsequent firing as coach cost him his coaching salary and full retirement pay, creating a financial hardship for him and his family and leaving his team without their advocate. In 2005, NWLC’s lawyers pressed Coach Jackson’s case all the way to the Supreme Court in Jackson v. Birmingham Board of Education, winning a slam-dunk victory with far-reaching effects. The Court held that the law’s protections extend to anyone who complains of civil rights violations. Now, coaches, teachers, and justice-seekers everywhere can speak up, with real protections against retaliation.