For 38 years after she graduated from the institution, Tracey Meares, a wonderful 55-year-old woman, was denied the honor of being named the high school’s valedictorian.

Tracey was the top graduate from Springfield High School in Illinois in 1984, however the Washington Post notes that she was not named valedictorian, which would have made her the school’s first Black valedictorian.

That year, the school decided to reward the top performers rather than her, who ordinarily receive the valedictorian and salutatorian awards. Tracey Meares, nevertheless, persisted in her pursuit of a degree.

She enrolled in the Urbana-Champaign campus of the University of Illinois, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in 1988. She became a Doctor of Law in 1991 after receiving her Juris Doctor from the University of Chicago Law School.

Tracey Meares, a professor of law at Yale Law School in Connecticut today, finally gained official recognition as the valedictorian of her class after 38 years. The new documentary “No Title for Tracey,” which was screened on Saturday, is said to have led to her accolade, according to The Guardian.

Professor Meares claimed that there was no justification in 1984 for not granting her the title. “There was no justification for this decision. The school’s 1984 decision to not acknowledge her was “devastating,” according to Meares.

When she was finally recognized by the school after 38 years, she stated that she felt “a tremendous degree of apprehension about coming back here and meeting my 17-year-old self.”

Kindly Share

Related Video