February 13 Discussion Set on Brown v. Board Anniversary

SALISBURY, MD---Dr. Dean Kotlowski, assistant professor of history at Salisbury University, continues African-American History Month discussions marking the 50th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, the epochal Supreme Court ruling that led to desegregated schools in America. Kotlowski leads a Brown Bag discussion at noon Friday, February 13, in Fulton Hall Room 130. He focuses on “Presidents and the Brown Decision,” examining the policies of several U.S. presidents during that era. “The two Democratic leaders of the 1960s, Kennedy and Johnson, were not as liberal as we think in terms of school desegregation,” Kotlowski said. “Nixon [a Republican and a pragmatist] on the other hand, was more liberal than most people think.” Kotlowski is the author of Nixon's Civil Rights: Politics, Principle, and Policy (Harvard University Press), which examines the Nixon administration's initiatives in the fields of African-American, Native American and women's rights. His lecture ushers in several speakers on the historic Brown decision, including Dr. Ronald Walters, a professor with the University’s of Maryland College Park’s Government and Politics Department, who speaks at 7 p.m. Monday, February 16, in the Wicomico Room, Guerrieri Center. His talk is titled “Brown vs. Board: What Has 50 Years Accomplished?” Janet Sims-Wood rounds out the series with “Separate But Equal Has No Place” at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 11, in the Wicomico Room. Her presentation includes historic photos of school conditions in states represented in the Brown case prior to the verdict, as well as photos and information on celebrations of the case’s anniversary nationwide. Simms-Wood is a member of Howard University’s Moorland-Spingarn Research Center. Sign language interpretation is available upon advance request by February 23. The Office of Multiethnic Student Services sponsors all three lectures. The Maryland Humanities Council and Wicomico County branch of the NAACP co-sponsor Sims-Wood’s lecture. All events are free and the public is cordially invited.

For more information call 410-543-6030 or visit the SU Web site at www.salisbury.edu.