UNCA Sponsors Program on Asheville's Segregation,
Desegregation;
Dwight Mullen to Give Talk on Brown vs. Board of Education
UNC Asheville will co-sponsor a program on "Mountain Reflections
on Brown vs. Board of Education: 50 Years Later" at 7 p.m. Tuesday,
April 20, at the YMI Cultural Center, 39 South Market St. Other sponsors
include the YMI Cultural Center, Center for Diversity Education and the
Asheville Community Relations Council. The event is free and open to the
public.
The program will explore Asheville’s history of segregation and
desegregation. The program will feature a talk by Dwight Mullen, noted
political scientist and director of UNCA’s Diversity and Multicultural
Affairs. A panel and audience discussion will follow his talk, which will
focus on personal memories on the effects of the Brown decision in the
Asheville area.
"Mountain Reflections on Brown vs. Board of Education: 50 Years
Later" kicks off a year-long discussion of the history of segregation
and desegregation in Western North Carolina. The audience will be invited
to sign up for ongoing discussion groups to help collect the local oral
history on the Brown decision.
Brown vs. the Board of Education of Topeka was decided by the U.S.
Supreme Court on May 17, 1954. The decision ended federally sanctioned
racial segregation in public schools by ruling unanimously that
"separate educational facilities are inherently unequal." This
groundbreaking case not only overturned the precedent of Plessy vs.
Ferguson (1896), which had declared "separate but equal
facilities" constitutional, but also provided the legal foundation
for the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.
An optional pre-program buffet dinner will be held at 5:30 p.m. at The
Ritz Restaurant, 42 South Market St. Cost is $12, which includes tip.
Seating is limited. To reserve a seat, call the Center for Diversity
Education at 828/232-5024.
For more information, call UNCA’s Africana Studies Program at
828/251-6977.
Media Contacts:
- Dr. John Wood, UNCA Africana Studies Program Director, 828/251-6977
- Jill Yarnall, UNCA Public Information Assistant Director,
828/251-6526
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