In 1954, the nation watched a little girl challenge the separate, but equal segregation in the Brown v. Board of Education case. Now, four decades later, Linda Brown Smith, the little girl who fought for the landmark case, and her sister, Cheryl Brown Henderson, will speak at SIUC.

The two sisters will lecture at 7 p.m. tonight in the University Museum Auditorium as part of Black History Month.

Nancy Brown, assistant professor of black American studies, said the two sisters will discuss their court battles on school segregation. She said Smith was the focal point of the case because she was the little girl who was trying to break away from the segregated school system.

Advertisement

They will deliver their personal story on the historical case, she said. They will bring the case to life by using slides from the past up to today and how the case impacted their lives.

Brown said that between 1896 and 1954, this country was under separate, but equal segregation.

She said the NAACP worked on a series of cases which eventually opened the door for the Brown v. Board of Education case, and in 1954, the nation was turned around by the landmark case when it came to life.

The case opened the door for all forms of legal segregation to be challenged, not only in schools, but in restaurants and public accommodations, she said.

Frederick Williams, director of the University honors program and co-chair of the black history committee, said society tends to use words like landmark pretty loosely, but this case is truly a landmark.

The Brown v. Board of Education case is a real landmark because the people involved on behalf of the Board of Education lost the case to the Brown sisters, he said. It was the decision the Supreme Court justice said the principle of separate, but equal’ is inherently unequal.

The presentation will give students a chance to see two people who made history, who are black history and who are American history, he said.

Advertisement*

Brown said students will see how far the nation has come and how far it has to go.

The racial system in the United States has a long way to go because there is still a great deal of inequality in the school system, she said. The presentation will teach the students how to make their future better by learning about the impact of segregation.