Exhibition Statement

Shelly Douglas in Mrs. Ray’s first grade classroom. Topeka, Kansas. 1956. Image courtesy of the Joe Douglas Collection, Kansas Collection, Kenneth Spencer Research Library.

Brown v. Board anniversary commemorated at KU Libraries
The exhibition “Lasting Impact: Brown v. the Board of Education” opened April 11, 2014, highlighting materials and artifacts selected from the libraries’ African American Experience Collections in the Kansas Collection and the Wheat Law Library where a wealth of materials surrounding Topeka’s pivotal battle against segregation are preserved. The opening reception included a joint presentation by KU professors Shirley Hill and John Rury entitled,
“The African American Struggle for Secondary Schooling, 1940-1980:
Closing the Graduation Gap.”

 “The 1954 ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, in which the Supreme Court deemed racial segregation in Topeka schools unconstitutional, marked a watershed moment in both civil rights history and Kansas history. In addition to establishing integration in public schools, the case was a significant step toward changing a broader dynamic of discrimination in the years and decades that followed. We are pleased to offer an opportunity for the campus and the community to come together to discuss this monumental decision and the influence it has still today.”

Lorraine J. Haricombe
Dean of Libraries
University of Kansas