Investigating the Past to Understand the Present and Envision the Future: A Continued Conversation on Brown

Session Type: Invited Speaker Session

Abstract

The Supreme Court first heard arguments for the Brown v. Board of Education case in December 1952. In December 1953, the Supreme Court heard the case again and on May 17, 1954, unanimously ruled segregation unconstitutional. The Court said “separate is not equal,” and segregation violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. This case was instrumental in the advancing the Civil Rights Movement as well as the unforeseen challenges desegregating public schools in America. Among the most destructive outcomes of the case was the decimation of the Black educator population. This session engages Brown Lecturers in a continued discussion on future implications of the Brown decision.

Sub Unit

• Social Justice Action Committee

Chair/Moderator

• Terrell R Morton, University of Illinois at Chicago

Participants

• James D. Anderson, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

• Lori Patton Davis, University of California, Los Angeles

• Leslie T. Fenwick, Howard University

• Alfredo J. Artiles, Stanford University