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Brown v. Topeka Board of Education

Yale Library will honor the 50th anniversary of this landmark decision, with an exhibit of the papers of Richard Kluger, author of Simple Justice: A History of Brown v. Board of Education, in the nave of Sterling Memorial Library, a self-serve video kiosk featuring a tape produced by Brown v. Board of Education National Historical Site, and a special screening of the critically acclaimed Eyes on the Prize, Volume 2: Fighting Back by Blackside Inc., and executive producer, Henry Hampton.

The screening will be held on Wednesday, February 25, 2004, from 12:00-1:30 in the Sterling Memorial Lecture Hall, Sterling Memorial Library, 130 Wall Street.

This 60-minute program examines the law as a tool for change. Fighting Back follows the struggle for equality from schoolroom to courtroom and back as African Americans reject the existing system of “separate but equal” education. 

In 1954, the Supreme Court also rejected this system with the historic Brown vs. Board of Education decision.  The video documents this as well as the 1957 integration of nine black teenagers at Little Rock’s Central High School and captures the events as James Meredith enrolls at the University of Mississippi.

The program is free and open to all interested members of the Yale and New Haven communities. Attendees are invited to bring a brown-bag lunch. Light refreshment and commemorative bookmarks will be provided.

The video kiosk will be available for viewing in the Memorabilia Room, located just outside the Sterling Memorial Lecture Hall.



For further information, please contact Library Human Resources, 2-1810.

Simple Justice: Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education

In honor of the 50th anniversary of the landmark decision, this exhibit provides a look at this turbulent period of our legal and social history through the papers of Richard Kluger, acclaimed non-fiction and fiction writer. 

The exhibit displays only a fraction of the detailed interview notes with the major figures of this time, papers, legal writings, and correspondence that Mr. Kluger used to write his award winning book, Simple Justice: A History of Brown v. Board of Education.

 In a New York Times Book Review, Robert Conot finds Kluger's account:

"…intriguing, encyclopedic and deeply researched. Kluger tells the story in terms of the people involved, and so turns what might have been a dry text into an exceedingly human drama. In the final third of the book, when the focus is on the Supreme Court, the story is gripping."

Kluger’s interview notes, pictures, ephemera and the correspondence of various figures such as: Thurgood Marshall, Earl Warren, James A. Nabrit, Robert L. Carter of the NAACP and Linda Brown are featured in the exhibit.

For more information:

 


Chicago Defender,1954

© 2004 Yale University Library 
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Staff Training & Organizational Development Manager
Yale University Library
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 This file last modified: 02/09/2004