RALEIGH, N.C. — The North Carolina Association of Educators represents thousands of people who work to create a successful learning environment for students across the state.

The organization has a rich history rooted in the Civil Rights Movement. But the NCAE’s history has a significant meaning during Black History Month. It played a big role in the desegregation of North Carolina's schools.

“It was also one of the ones that helped establish, like I said, equal representation of minority educators,” president Tamika Walker Kelly said.

More than 50 years ago, educators across the state were represented by two different organizations. The North Carolina Teachers Association was the Black educators' union. The North Carolina Education Association represented white educators in the state.

But in 1970, right after the Civil Rights Movement, the two organizations merged. They set an example of integration for other education organizations across the country.

“As educators in the state of North Carolina, we greatly benefited from that merger,” said Tamika Walker Kelly, president of the NCAE board of directors. “There are lots of lessons learned that we still apply to this day.”

Representation in the classroom continues to be an important objective for the NCAE.

“Being able to see someone that they can learn from, not only helps students of color, but it helps all students,” Walker Kelly said. “Because it teaches them about the humanity of each one of us as we are navigating our neighborhoods, our communities, and this world together.”

Walker Kelly says the NCAE is a huge part of North Carolina’s history, but also its present and future too. The organization continues to hold true to the values it was created to protect.