ISU Celebrates the 50th Anniversary of the Landmark Supreme Court Ruling

Roger Wilkins is the Clarence J. Robinson Professor of History and American Culture at George Mason University and a member of the U. S. 50th Anniversary Commission on Brown v. Board of Education. He served as Assistant Attorney General during the Johnson Administration, and has been both witness to and participant in some of the major historical events of our time, from the Civil Rights movement to the campaign to end apartheid. While on the editorial page staff of The Washington Post, he was cited by the Pulitzer Prize committee in 1972 for Watergate coverage along with Woodward, Bernstein, and Herblock. He is the author of Jefferson's Pillow: The Founding Fathers and the Dilemma of Black Patriotism and his autobiography, A Man's Life, and he was co-editor with Fred Harris of Quiet Riots. His undergraduate and law degrees are from the University of Michigan. This 1954 ruling ended segregation in public schools and laid the groundwork for the civil rights movement. Students, faculty and staff are encouraged to engage in discussion surrounding the case at this event and others scheduled throughout the year including the President's "Conversations on Diversity."