Black woman denied valedictorian title in 1984 finally receives the honor

A Yale Law School professor who was denied the title of valedictorian at her Illinois high school has officially received the honor nearly four decades later.

Tracey Meares would have become the first Black valedictorian at Springfield High School in 1984, but instead had to split the title of “Top Student” with a white classmate.

In a tweet earlier this month, Meares, 55, said she was “denied the title of valedictorian of my high school despite having the highest (grade point average) in my class because of race discrimination.”

On April 16, the Springfield Public Schools District 186 officially named Meares the valedictorian of her high school class.

“Gestures of reconciliation are important and necessary,” said Meares.

Her story is featured in the new documentary “No Title for Tracey,” which aims to show Meares was “denied the title of class valedictorian due to systemic racism,” according to a description of the film on its Facebook page.

“The resonance that the film has had with so many people is also incredibly powerful,” said Meares.

“The ways structural racism and race discrimination can work are not the kinds of ways that people understand, right? It’s not always really obvious. But it’s still deep.”