NASHVILLE, Tenn. ñ The second lecture at Vanderbilt University commemorating the anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that outlawed educational segregation is titled "Brown v. Board After a Half Century: The Gains of Integration, the Consequences of Resegregation."
Gary Orfield, a professor at Harvard University, director of the Harvard Project on School Desegregation and co-director of the Harvard Civil Rights Project, will speak at 4:15 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 13, in the Flynn Auditorium of Vanderbilt Law School. The event is free and open to the public.
Orfield is a preeminent scholar of civil rights, education policy, urban policy and minority opportunity. He has testified in civil rights lawsuits filed by the U.S. Department of Justice, and many civil rights, legal services and educational organizations.
In 1997, Orfield was awarded the Charles Merriam Award by the American Political Science Association for his "contribution to the art of government through the application of social science research."
The Brown v. Board of Education ruling was issued on May 17, 1954. It declared "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal."
Vanderbilt is marking the milestone with a series of lectures and events that began with a speech on Oct. 8 by Michael J. Klarman of the University of Virginia.
Upcoming events include:
–Juan Williams, senior correspondent for National Public Radio’s Morning Edition, who will deliver the Martin Luther King Jr. Lecture Series keynote speech on Jan. 20, 2004.
–Damon Keith, United States Court of Appeals judge, sixth circuit, who will deliver the Chancellor’s Lecture Series speech on April 1, 2004.
–The Peabody College Conference on the 50th Anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education will be held on April 2, 2004.
The Brown v. Board of Education 50th Anniversary Commemorative Series at Vanderbilt is a university-wide series sponsored by 15 departments on campus. It is coordinated by the Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities at Vanderbilt.
For more information about the Brown v. Board of Education events, contact the Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities at rpw.center@vanderbilt.edu or 615-343-6060.
Media contact: Jim Patterson, (615) 322-NEWS