Brown v. Board of Education: 50 Years Later
To commemorate the 50 year anniversary of the Supreme Court ruling on Brown v. Board of Education, the Library has prepared the following list of resources, upcoming events, and activities. These resources were compiled by Bank Street Graduate School faculty members Linda Levine and Bernadette Anand, Museum Education student Jessica Sickler, and Librarian Carol Van Houten for use by the Bank Street community: students, faculty, staff, parents, trustees, and alumni.
Please use these resources to further the critically important discussion about race and education in the United States -- what has been achieved and what challenges remain -- in conversation with family members, colleagues, and friends.
Sections: New York Area Events and Exhibits | Websites and Lesson Plans | Books in the Library | Recent Articles
New York Area Events and Exhibits
Bank Street New Perspectives CourseBank Street College's Division of Continuing Education will offer a New Perspectives Course entitled "Education and the Law: Protecting Rights and Meeting Responsibilities in the Schools" on April 30-May 1, 2004. David Schimmel, professor at the University of Massachusetts and Harvard, will teach the course.
Julius and Rosa Sachs Lecture Series, Teachers College
Sachs Lecturer Richard Rothstein discusses equality in education 50 years after Brown in three lectures at Teachers College this Spring.
Columbia Law School: The Year of Brown v. Board of Education
Columbia University Law School is hosting a series of events and speakers celebrating the 50 year anniversary of the Brown decision.
Brown v. Board of Education Conference
The Metropolitan Center for Urban Education at New York University will host a conference in May entitled: "Brown Plus Fifty: A Renewed Agenda For Social Justice.
American Folk Art Museum
"Tools of Her Ministry: The Art of Sister Gertrude Morgan"
On exhibit February 25 - September 26, 2004. The first major museum retrospective devoted to Sister Gertrude Morgan (1900-1980), a talented African-American painter and street missionary who today is considered one of the most important self-taught artists of our time. The exhibit chronicles her life and career.
Brooklyn Museum of Art
Exhibitions: "Patrick Kelly: A Retrospective" Opens April 2004. African-American fashion designer Patrick Kelly, a native of Vicksburg, Mississippi, will be the subject of this first retrospective of his work. Kelly's exuberant and witty garments proved to be potent and original contributions to the field of fashion.
"The Arts of Africa -- a long term installation" More than 250 works from the Museum's African art collection are on view. Included are religious and ceremonial objects, as well as furniture, textiles, architectural fragments, household items, and objects of personal adornment. The galleries also contain large-scale photographs and videos by Carol Beckwith and Angela Fisher.
Museum of Television and Radio
"Spotlight on Russell Simmons" Daily in February at 3:00 p.m. The Museum is celebrating Black History Month with screenings of two innovative programs produced by hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons: Def Comedy Jam, which introduced some of today's most notable television comedians, including Chris Rock, Martin Lawrence, and Bernie Mac, and the Peabody Award-winning Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry, which crosses the politics of such spoken-word poets as Gil Scott Heron and Amiri Baraka with the rhythm of contemporary rap artists.
"Fred Wilson: Objects and Installations: 1985-2000" April 28 - July 4, 2004. This is the first retrospective of the internationally recognized artist and political activist Fred Wilson. It centers on Wilson's sustained and cogent inquiry into the complex relationship between the art object and the museum. His oeuvre consisting of "mock" museum installations into which the artist places provocative and beautifully rendered objects, explore the question of how the museum consciously or unconsciously perpetuates racist beliefs and behavior. The exhibition consists of more than 100 objects, each reconfigured to re-create sections of Wilson's original installations. Catalogue available.
South Street Seaport
In conjunction with the exhibition "Captive Passage: The Transatlantic Slave Trade and the Making of the Americas:" Sundays, 2:00-4:00 p.m.
"African American Life in Lower Manhattan." This tour connects the African Burial Ground to other historic sites including stations on the Underground Railroad, the former location of New York's slave market, the African Free School, and the Colored Sailor's Home. Reservations strongly suggested. For reservations, call (212) 748-8786.
Websites and Lesson Plans
Teaching With Documents Lesson Plan: Documents Related to Brown v. Board of EducationThis site from the U.S. National Archives and Record Administration contains much material for teachers related to the Brown decision.
From Jim Crow To Linda Brown: A Retrospective of the African-American Experience from 1897 to 1953
This mini-unit from the Library of Congress presents lesson plans and students activities exploring the era of legal segregation in America, from the Plessy v. Ferguson decision to Brown v. Board of Education.
brownat50.org
Howard University's School of Law presents Brown at 50: Fulfilling the Promise. This site includes a chronology of events, biographical sketches, and a list of events.
Teaching Brown: Reflections on Pedagogical Challenges and Opportunities
Hosted by Trinity College, this site presents six forthcoming essays from The History of Education Quarterly as well as a teacher's resource guide.
In Pursuit of Freedom and Equality
This site, presented by The Brown Foundation For Educational Equity, Excellence and Research, features an online exhibit entitled "Kansas and the African American Public School Experience, 1855-1955."
Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site
The National Park Service's website explains the Brown v. Board of Ed. National Historic Site in Topeka, Kansas, which will open in May, 2004.
Brown at 50: The Promise Unfulfilled
Education Week on the web presents a series of articles on the role of race in education.
Books Available in the Library
Adult BooksAnand, B. (et al.). (2002). Keeping the struggle alive: Studying desegregation in our town: A guide to doing oral history. New York: Teachers College, Columbia University. Call number: 379.263K267s
Brown, O. (1969). Argument: The oral argument before the Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 1952-55. Chelsea House. Call number: 347.9973B879a
Delpit, L. (1995). Other's people's children: cultural conflict in the classroom. New York: The New Press. Call number: 370.196D363o
Fischer, L. & Schimmel, D. (2002). Teachers and the law. Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Call number: 344.7307T
Herrnstein, R. & Murray, C. (1994). The bell curve: Intelligence and class structure in American life. New York: Free Press. Call number: 305.9082H558b
Kluger, R. (1975). Simple justice: The history of Brown v. Board of Education and Black America's struggle for equality. New York: Knopf. Call number: 344.730798K66s
Lomotey, K. & Teddlie, C. (Eds.). (1996). Forty years after the Brown decision: implications of school desegregation for U.S. education. New York: AMS Press. Call number: 379.26R287o
Mallory, B. & New, R. (Eds.). (1994). Diversity and developmentally appropriate practices: challenges for early childhood education. New York: Teachers College Press. Call number: 372.21D618d
Moses, R.P. & Cobb, C.E., Jr. (2001). Radical equations: Civil rights from Mississippi to the Algebra Project. Boston: Beacon Press. Call number: 512.071M911r
Nieto, S. (1996). Affirming diversity: the sociopolitical context of multicultural education. Boston: Pearson. Call number: 370.19341N677a2
Oakes, J. & Lipton, M. (2003). Teaching to change the world. New York: Mc Graw Hill. Call number: 371.010973011
Orfield, G. (1996). Dismantling desegregation: The quiet reversal of Brown v. Board of Education. New York: New Press. Call number: 370.19342O67d
Weiner, L. (1999). Urban teaching: the essentials. New York: Teachers College Press. Call number: 371.0091732W423u
West, C. (1993). Race matters. Boston: Beacon Press. Call number: 305.800973w516r
Williams, J. (1987). Eyes on the prize: America's civil rights years 1954-1965. New York: Harmondsworth. Call number: 323.4W724e
Yon, D. (2000). Elusive culture: schooling, race and identity in global times. Albany: SUNY Press. Call number: 306.43Y55e
Children's Books
Haskins, J. (1997). Separate, but not equal: The dream and the struggle. New York: Scholastic. Call number: J379.2H
Kraft, B.H. (1998). Sensational trials of the 20th century. New York: Scholastic. Call number: J347.73K
Levine, E. (1993). Freedom's children. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. Call number: J973L
Stevens, L.A. (1976). Equal!: The case of integration vs. Jim Crow. Coward, McCann & Geoghegan. Call number: J301.451S
Stevenson, J. (1973). The school segregation cases. New York: Watts. Call number: J334.7S
Thomas, J.C. (2003). Linda Brown, you are not alone: the Brown v. Board of Education decision: a collection. New York: Hyperion. Call number: J323.1L
Wexler, S. (1993). The civil rights movement: An eyewitness history. New York: Facts On File. Call number: J323.1W
Williams, M.E. (Ed.). (2001). Race relations: Opposing viewpoints. San Diego: Greenhaven. Call number: J305.8R
Recent Articles
The Library has a folder of articles on reserve at the Circulation Desk entitled "Brown v. Board of Education." In addition, recent articles can be found in the Library's databases, including Lexis-Nexis, Wilson Select Plus, and the Professional Development Collection, using search terms "brown" and "board of education".The following articles can all be accessed through the databases, either from home or in the Library. The databases page is at: http://streetcat.bankstreet.edu/html/databases.html
Balkin, J. (11/9/01). Is the 'Brown' decision fading to irrelevance? Chronicle of Higher Education, 11-12. Retrieved from Professional Development Collection database.
Carnahan, I. (11/10/03). Desegregation's broken promises. Forbes, 172, 10, 114. Retrieved from Professional Development Collection database.
Cohen, A. (1/18/04). The supreme struggle. The New York Times, 22-24. Retrieved from Lexis Nexis database.
Davis, O.L. (Winter 2004). Fifty years past ... and still miles to go: curriculum development and the Brown v. Board decision. Journal of Curriculum and Supervision, 19, 2, 95-98. Retrieved from Wilson Select Plus database.
Lewis, A. (03/2003). Segregated schools. The Education Digest, 68, 7, 71. Retrieved from Wilson Select Plus database.
Lucas, S. (04/2000). Hope, anguish, and the problem of our time: as essay on publication of 'The Black-White Test Score Gap.' Teachers College Record, 102, 2, 461. Retrieved from the Professional Development Collection database.
Romero, D. (12/2003) Precedent, parity, and racial discrimination: a federal/state comparison of the impact of Brown v. Board of Education. Law & Society Review, 37 4 809-26. Retrieved from Wilson Select Plus database.
Smith, C. (1/18/04). When busing ends. The New York Times, 30. Retrieved from Lexis Nexis database.
Photo credit: School segregation protest photo from the National Archives and Records Administration. This and other public domain images of American History are located online at: Images from American Political History, The College of New Jersey. url: http://teachpol.tcnj.edu/amer_pol_hist/
For more information, contact: cvanhouten@bankstreet.edu
Last Modified: April 19, 2004
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