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Dr. '''Vernon McDaniel''' (1907?-[[2000]]) was an African-American educator who was principal of [[Booker T. Washington High School]] from [[1934]] to [[1944]]. In [[1941]] he was the plaintiff in a federal [[NAACP]] lawsuit against the [[Escambia County School Board]] to mandate equal pay for black teachers. Realizing the court would decide for McDaniel, the school board agreed to a settlement that would equalize salaries over a three-year period. He was dismissed from his position three years later.
McDaniel later traveled and addressed advised politicians (including President [[Wikipedia:John F. Kennedy|John F. Kennedy]], whom he met with two days before his assassination) about [[desegregation]] and [[civil rights]] issues in education. He became a professor at Tuskegee University and in 1965 earned a doctorate in education from New York University. He then served as vice-president of Bishop College in Dallas from 1967-75.
McDaniel returned to Pensacola in [[1975]] and ran for the School Board, becoming the first African-American to be elected to the position and then the its first African-American chairman.
The school district's [[Vernon McDaniel Building]] on [[Garden Street]] was named for him on [[October 5]], [[2000]]. He passed away less than a month later, on [[November 2]], at age 93.