News Release

New Exhibit Explores South Carolina Case Included in Brown Decision

Date: January 11, 2011

Release date: January 11, 2011
Contact: Justin Sochacki
Phone number: [phone]

Topeka – Community organizers and parents stood up for equal schools in Clarendon County, South Carolina in the 1940's and 1950's, just as they did here in Topeka. The story of one community's action and dedication is depicted in a new traveling exhibit entitled Courage: The Vision to End Segregation. The Guts to Fight for It.The exhibit is free and open to the public at Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site through February 26.

Courage tells the powerful grassroots story of the Rev. Joseph A. De Laine and other brave citizens of Clarendon County, S.C., who initiated a lawsuit challenging racial segregation in public schools. Known as Briggs v. Elliott,the lawsuit would later become one of the five cases brought before the U.S. Supreme Court under the name Brown v. Board of Education.The watershed decision ruled that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional and initiated massive changes in race relations. Courage is a Levine Museum of the New South exhibit and was made possible by a generous grant from Bank of America.

All programs and exhibits are cosponsored by Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site and the Brown Foundation for Educational Equity, Excellence, and Research and are part of the 2010-2011 program series titled Commemorating Our Nation's Struggle for Freedom:From Civil War to Civil Rights.For a list of all events and exhibits in the annual program series, please visit www.nps.gov/brvb and click on the Special Events link. Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site tells the story of the U.S. Supreme Court decision that ended legal segregation in public schools. The site is located at 1515 SE Monroe Street in Topeka, Kansas, and is open free of charge from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, with the exceptions of Thanksgiving, December 25, and January 1. For more information, visit www.nps.gov/brvb or call 785-354-4273.