The civil rights leader accused of pretending to be black once accused a historically black college of discrimination

Years before she claimed to be the victim of a hate crime, a controversial former head of an NAACP chapter sued a historically black college for allegedly discriminating against her because she was white.

Rachel Dolezal, who sparked controversy after claiming to be black even though both of her parents are white, once sued Howard University for discrimination based on her race and gender, according to a state appeals court opinion obtained by the Smoking Gun.

While studying for her Masters in Fine Art in 2002, Dolezal claimed that Howard blocked her teaching assistant post, denied her financial aid, and removed her campus artwork because professors preferred the work of her black peers.

Earlier this month, Dolezal came under national scrutiny after claiming she was black and suffered hate crimes because of her race.

"If I was asked, yes I would definitely say yes I do consider myself to be black," Dolezal told a local television station.

A trial court granted summary judgment to Howard on all of the claims Dolezal brought, and an appeals court affirmed the decision.

Dolezal stepped down from her post as the NAACP on Monday. We reached out to her attorney who worked on the case, as well as a lawyer who represented Howard, and we will update this post when we hear back.