Inspired by her mother’s interest in civil rights, Batson became the chairwoman of the Public Education Sub-Committee of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1953. In April 1957, she became the chairwoman of the New England Regional Conference of the NAACP, where she worked as a civil rights lobbyist.

After serving as chairwoman of the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination from 1963 to 1966, she helped launch METCO. As associate director, then director, she helped guide METCO’s growth from transporting 225 black urban children to several suburbs, to 1,125 children to 28 communities. She stepped down in 1969.