Defending diversity: North Carolina churches fight for integrated schools

Read the sidebar article on NAACP of North Carolina president William Barber.

Years before there was a National Council of Churches or a World Council of Churches, and decades before Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka mandated that public schools be integrated, the North Carolina Council of Churches was formed specifically to fight for integrated schools.

"It was originally formed by a small group of white pastors who wanted to integrate in North Carolina in 1935, which is pretty astounding," says David LaMotte, a consultant on social justice with the North Carolina council. "They were ahead of the curve."