Former Spokane NAACP president Rachel Dolezal sued Howard University in 2002 for allegedly discriminating against her because she’s white, according to court documents obtained by the Smoking Gun. Dolezal, who has claimed to be black for several years, said the school refused to hire her for teaching posts and denied her scholarships because of her race.



Dolezal, who went by Rachel Moore then, reportedly filed the suit against Howard and Professor Alfred Smith, the chairman of the university’s art department, in Washington DC’s Superior Court. From the Smoking Gun:



According to a Court of Appeals opinion, Dolezal’s lawsuit “claimed discrimination based on race, pregnancy, family responsibilities and gender.” She alleged that Smith and other school officials improperly blocked her appointment to a teaching assistant post, rejected her application for a post-graduate instructorship, and denied her scholarship aid while she was a student. The court opinion also noted that Dolezal claimed that the university’s decision to remove some of her artworks from a February 2001 student exhibition was “motivated by a discriminatory purpose to favor African-American students over” her. As detailed in the court opinion, Dolezal’s lawsuit contended that Howard was “permeated with discriminatory intimidation, ridicule, and insult.”

The lawsuit was dismissed in February 2004, after Judge Zoe Bush found no evidence that Dolezal was discriminated against. Dolezal was ordered to reimburse the school for $2758.50 for a “Bill of Costs” and another $1000 for an “obstructive and vexatious” court filing.

Dolezal resigned her post as president of Spokane’s NAACP chapter earlier today, just four days after her parents told several publications that their daughter was white.

