Jessie Tompkins (born August 1959) is an American athlete and educator from Bessemer, Alabama. Tompkins led the nation in the 50 yard hurdles (42")[1] indoors and the 400 meter hurdles outdoors in 1979 in high school. He led the nation in the Junior College 400 meter hurdles and ranked among the top 50 U.S hurdlers in 1981, according to Track and Field News.[2] Tompkins graduated from Bishop State Community College in Mobile, Alabama and The United States Sports Academy in Daphne, Alabama[3] and later from Alabama State University. Tompkins is a professional educator. He organized and developed the East Montgomery Track Club for youths in rural Montgomery, Alabama.[4]
During the Civil Rights Movement in Alabama, the Tompkins family suffered violence and racial attacks in Marion, Alabama.[5] In 1958 family member Jimmy Wilson (handyman), a black handyman, was sentenced, by an all-white jury, to death for allegedly robbing a white women of $1.95. According to the Des Moines Register, "a court official suggested that the jury had been influenced by the fact that Mrs. Barker told the jury that Wilson had spoken to her in a disrespectful tone".[6] Throughout the South since the Civil Rights movement, rural blacks have been targeted for their land and homestead rights.[7]
Tompkins is an activist for student rights in Sports and Education, In 1997 he was the lead plaintiff in Tompkins v Alabama State University lawsuit, and one of four African American students who filed a lawsuit to eliminate racial requirement for the all-white scholarship program at Alabama State University in Montgomery, Alabama.[8] The All-White Scholarship was established to integrate Historically Black Colleges. The scholarship brochure echoed memories of the White-Only Signs from the 1950s and 60’s when blacks were beaten, attacked by dogs, killed and sprayed with water hoses to prevent racial integration in Alabama.
The scholarship only required that the applicants be white, have a GED and received a full tuition scholarship for undergraduate and graduate schools (3.0 GPA).[9] Tompkins was represented by Ann Coulter and The Center for Individual Rights (CIR) in Washington D.C.[10] Tompkins' story about the White-Only Scholarship Program was featured in The Wall Street Journal, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Jet Magazine and aired on 60 minutes and CNN,[11] After 24 years from Track and Field competition, in 2009 Tompkins ranked 15th in the nation in the masters long jump competition.