On May 17-18, 1944, Eddie L. Dorsey, Ima Pierson, Howard C. Scoggins, and Luins Williams, along with leaders of the newly formed NAACP chapter, were violently expelled from Iberia Parish because they supported Black workers who successfully petitioned the federal government for a welding school. As welders, the workers anticipated access to industrial jobs and better pay. Local segregationists resisted, wanting to restrict them to low-wage agricultural and service jobs. NAACP chapter leaders Herman Faulk, J. Leo Hardy, Octave Lilly, and Franzella Volter were also expelled, some brutally.