Race and Rights: Brown v. Board of Education and the Problems of Segregation, Desegregation, and Resegregation in the United States
name: label: Collection Collector
content: Maltsby, Portia
label: Collection Creator
content: Smithsonian Institution. Program in African American Culture
setName: label: See more items in
content: Program in African American Culture Collection
label: See more items in
content: Program in African American Culture Collection / Series 1: Program Files
unitdate: label: Date
content: 2004 February 20-21
container: label: Container
content: Box 26, Folder 8
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: Program held February 20, to Saturday, February 21, 2004, in the Carmichael Auditorium, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution. The program commemorated the 50th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education and was presented in conjunction with the exhibition "Separate Is Not Equal: Brown v. Board of Education." The Program in African American Culture cosponsored event with the Howard University School of Law and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Legal Defense Fund, Incorporated. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) presented Race and Rights on Friday. Program included panel discussions, performances, and a video screening.

The Program in African American Culture holds an annual national observance of African American history month in February. The 2004 conference commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education decision of 1954. The Brown decision legally ended the practice of segregated education in the United States. The program highlighted the lawyers that worked on the case and its legacy. It was emphasized throughout the program that much work remained to be done in fulfilling the promise of Brown. Several scholars convened to present papers about the case. There was a video screening of The Road to Brown, which highlighted the life of Charles Hamilton Houston, a civil rights lawyer and key figure in the case.  Howard University School of Law hosted a town hall meeting in which there was an intergenerational discussion about Brown and the problems that still exist in education today. 

Participants included:

February 20 Program

H. Patrick Swygert, president, Howard University

Kurt L. Schmoke, dean, School of Law, Howard University 

Theodore M. Shaw, associate director-counsel, National Association for the Advance ment of Colored People (NAACP); Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Incorporated

Lorraine Miller, president, District of Columbia Branch, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)

Vincent G. Harding,  professor, religion and social transformation, Iliff School of Theology, Denver, Colorado

February 21 Program: Panel Discussions

Pete Daniel, curator of southern and rural history, National Museum of American History (NMAH); professor of history, University of Maryland

Raymond Gavins, professor of history, Duke University

Linda Sheryl Greene, associate vice chancellor for faculty and staff programs, and Evjue-Bascom professor, law, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Reginald F. Hildebrand, associate professor with a joint appointment in history and Afro-American studies

Genna Rae McNeil, professor of history, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Dianne Pinderhughes, professor of political science and Afro-American studies, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

J. Clay Smith, professor of law, Howard University

Ronald Walters, distinguished leadership scholar and director, African American Leadership Institute, University of Maryland, College Park

Linda Williams, associate professor of government and politics, University of Maryland, College Park

Frank Wu,  professor of law, Howard University; and adjunct professor of law,  Columbia University 

February 21 Program: Town Hall Meeting 

Moderator 

Charles J. Ogletree Jr., Climenko professor of law and prominent legal theorist, 
Harvard University

Panelists

Carrie L. Billy, member of the Navajo nation, attorney from Arizona, and staff of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC)

Jaclyn A. Cole, president and co-founder, ROOTS 

David Ari Collins, student, school of law, Howard University 

Brumit B. De Laine, youngest child of the late Reverend Joseph Armstrong De Laine, who led the Briggs v. Elliot lawsuit from Clarendon County, South Carolina

Marisa J. Demeo, regional counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund's (MALDEF) DC office 

Wade Henderson, executive director, Leadership Conference on Civil Rights; and counsel, Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund

Henry H. Jones, professor, school of law, Howard University School 

Alana Murray, educator-activist, Montgomery County Public Schools, Maryland

John W. Stokes, educational consultant and adjunct professor, Morgan State and Baltimore City Community College

Craig A. Thompson, associate, law offices, Peter Angelos, Baltimore, Maryland

Michael R. Wenger, program consultant, Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies

Lia Wright-Tesconi, senior, School Without Walls Senior High School, George Washington University, Washington, DC

The Howard University Chapel Choir, diversified musical aggregation that provides the Andrew Rankin Memorial Chapel with the finest of sacred music on a consistent basis


Program number AC408.122.