Harris-Stowe State University will host an educational symposium celebrating the 60th anniversary year of the Brown Decision titled, “The Brown Decision and its Implications for St. Louis,” Thursday, October 23, 2014, at 6 p.m. in the Emerson Performance Center Bank of America Theatre. This event is free and open to the public and doors will open at 5:30 p.m.
The May 17, 1954 “Brown v. Board of Education,” U.S. Supreme Court ruled that separate public schools for blacks and whites were unconstitutional. The Brown decision had implications on the country that reached far beyond the education realm. Harris-Stowe State University has assembled scholars as well as individuals who experienced first-hand the immediate impact of the Brown Decision on their lives to discuss the implications on St. Louis.
“Certainly, the Brown Decision impacted not only the educational shifts in St. Louis, but demographic and economic changes in the city that are still being felt 60 years later,” stated Dr. Dwyane Smith, vice president of academic affairs and co-organizer of the symposium. “Harris-Stowe State University is the result of the Brown Decision with the merging of black Stowe Teachers College and white Harris Teachers College immediately after the decision.”
Speakers include Attorney Kimberly Norwood, professor of law and professor of African & African-American Studies at Washington University (WU); and Dr. Stefan Bradley, chair of African-American Studies and associate professor of history at Saint Louis University (SLU).
The symposium is part of a series of intellectual think tank activities held on the campus of Harris-Stowe State University.