Brown v. Board of Education v. Today

Brown v. Board of Education v. Today

Whenever I walk into Foellinger Auditorium, it’s usually to attend my econ lecture, but this time is different. I’m not going to listen to a lecture about how the economy works, but instead to listen to a family that caused the nation to rethink the educational system. The famous Brown family was going to give a talk about the famous case that carried their name and forever put them in history.

The Brown v. Board of Education decision eliminated segregation in public schools, an injustice that so many African-Americans fought to end not only in public schools, but also public places. The Brown v. Board of Education decision was a step into the future where African-American and Caucasians could intermingle rather than be separated just because of race. Segregation in the early 50’s had finally reached the end of its journey and a new law was made to ban segregation and promote integration.

Walking into the auditorium, conversations about the excitement of the Brown sisters giving a talk about the historical decision, politics, sports, and other everyday conversations could be heard. The auditorium filled with people of different ethnic groups, mainly Caucasians but several African-Americans came to hear the true story behind Brown v. Board of Education. I would have to say about 60 percent of the people were Caucasians, 25 percent African-Americans and the other 15 percent were either Asians or Hispanics. People of all ages came to hear what the Brown sisters had to say; some as young as the age of seven and some as old as in their late 60’s. Children, undergrad students, grad students, professors, as well as people with other professions filled the auditorium, with undergrad students making up most of the people who attended. However, the auditorium was not full or as filled as one would expect knowing that the Brown family was going to discuss the Brown v. Board of Education decision, a disappointing reality.

The long awaited talk finally started a few minutes after four. Susan Fowler, co-chairman of the Brown v. Board commemoration, started by introducing the ten winning students who wrote to Linda Brown expressing their feelings about the Brown v. Board trial and decision. She then talked about how Project 500, established in 1968, recruited African-American students to the University of Illinois campus as a way to make the campus more diverse; project 500 was a direct result of Brown v.