Panel Explores 65th Anniversary of Brown vs. Board of Education Ruling

To commemorate the 65th anniversary of the hallmark Supreme Court decision Brown vs. Board of Education, Millicent Brown ’75 and Caroll Y. Turpin will share their experiences as children who desegregated South Carolina’s public schools in the 1960s during a forum at the College of Charleston on Wednesday, March 27, 2019. The event, which is free and open to the public, will be held in Alumni Hall within Randolph Hall.

The forum, “The Long Afterlife of Brown v Board: A Commemoration of the Landmark Supreme Court Decision and its Legacy,” will explore the history-making Supreme Court decision that ended segregation in American schools, the subsequent decade of court battles and protests, and the impact and legacies of desegregation.

Brown and Turpin were among the first African-American children to desegregate South Carolina’s public schools. Brown, whose 1963 court case Millicent Brown et al v. School District 20 led to the desegregation of Charleston public schools, was among the first African-American students to integrate Charleston County’s Rivers High School. Brown would go on to receive a history degree from CofC, before earning a Ph.D. in 20th Century U.S. History from Florida State University. Turpin was the first African-American student to graduate from Barnwell High School in Barnwell, South Carolina, and went on to earn a degree in psychology from Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia. Together, they will discuss their experiences as African-American children who lived through desegregation.

This event is co-sponsored by the Department of History; the School of Education, Health, and Human Performance; Office of the Dean of Humanities and Social Sciences; African American Studies; Women’s and Gender Studies; Southern Studies; and First Year Experience. A reception starts at 5:30 p.m. The talk begins at 6 p.m.