YALE CONFERENCE PANEL DESCRIPTIONS
Brown 101
Brown 101 is a "teach-in" designed to introduce students
and guests to the basic history, procedure, and outcome of Brown
I, its companion cases, and Brown II.
Road to Brown: Law and Politics in the 1940s and 1950s
This panel will provide a broad framework of the history leading
up to Brown. The discussion will examine the then-state of public
education, NAACP litigation strategies, and national and international
affairs that provided the context for the decision.
What Brown v. Board of Education Should Have Said
Inspired by a book of the same title, this panel provides an
opportunity to reflect on Brown with a practitioner and with
scholars who have written their own concurring and dissenting
opinions almost fifty years later.
Beyond Brown: Courts, Congress, and Civil Rights
This panel pushes beyond the actors and issues associated with
the Brown decision itself to consider the role of government
and the civil rights movement in expanding equal protection
during the last half of the twentieth century.
Equal But Separate? The Shape of Public Education in America
Today
This panel will address the current state of American urban
public education. Speakers will reflect upon issues of educational
reform, integration, school funding and curricular change.
Affirmative Action: Where are We Now?
This panel will address the state of affirmative action, with
special attention to the impact of the Supreme Court's recent decisions
in Grutter v. Bollinger and Gratz v. Bollinger.
Brown as Icon
Brown is more than a court decision-it is a dynamic cultural,
historical, and social reference point. This panel will discuss
the "largeness" of Brown, and how its conception of
justice has informed a range of discourses within the academy
and beyond.
What Brown Means To Me
During this lunch discussion, women who locate themselves squarely
in the Brown era and the enforcement years that followed will
reflect upon the ways the decision impacted their personal lives
and careers, and changed life in their communities.
Perspectives from the Frontline: A Conversation with Brown
Litigators, the Honorable Robert Carter and the Honorable Constance
Baker Motley
Judge Carter, an NAACP attorney from 1944 to 1968, and Judge
Motley, an NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund attorney
from 1945 to 1965, were part of the Brown litigation team. This
unprecedented conversation will provide a view from the ground.
