Rachel Dolezal once 'sued Howard University for anti-white discrimination'

Rachel Dolezal, the civil rights campaigner accused of lying about her race, once sued Howard University for discriminating against her for being white, it has been reported.

According to court documents which have been published online, a lawsuit was filed against the historically black university in 2002 by Dolezal, then known as Rachel Moore, claiming that she had been discriminated against: “based on race, pregnancy, family responsibilities and gender.”

Ms Dolezal was studying for a Masters in Fine Art at the university at the time.

She claimed that the university had “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 documents also record a complaint that her art works were removed from a student art exhibition, on the grounds that the decision was: “motivated by a discriminatory purpose to favour African-American students over” her.

However, the lawsuit was dismissed in February 2004 as a judge recorded no evidence that Dolezal had been discriminated against.

Howard University was founded in 1867 with the mission of educating black students in the US. It has remained a primarily black university since then and it is estimated that around one per cent of its current students are white.

Rachel Dolezal has been accused of misrepresenting herself as an African American whilst holding a post at the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People despite being white.

She resigned from the position yesterday.