The Schomberg Center
April 22, 2010
The Schomburg Center is a public library in Harlem that, among many other wonderful things, held an exhibit that had to do with the fight for integration of schools in North Carolina. Many people don’t realize that the Brown v. Board of Education trial of 1964 was not just one case, but 5 different cases put together, the most famous case being Oliver Brown, represented by Thurgood Marshall. The Schomburg Center put together and exhibit of a less famous case, the Briggs v. Elliot Case. We brought our students to this exhibit to expose them to the resistance people of the south faced while they were fighting for integration of schools and the disparity between the school for the white children and the black children.
Since this was a temporary exhibit at the Schomburg, this was a once in a lifetime experience, but we can always use the information that displayed to teach about the Civil Rights Movement. The students got to see many primary sources that gave the people involved in the Civil Rights Movement, other then the more prominent figures, a face. They felt empathy with the DeLaine family and were outraged with they learned that the Fire Department in Clarendon County refused to put out the fire the KKK started at their church. The students got to see how racism affected self image by examining the study done by Kenneth Clark examining which doll children considered to be “good” and which they considered “bad” the white doll or the black doll. To find out more about this study check out this link. http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/brown/brown-brown.html.
While we may not be able to revisit this exhibit physically, we can still revisit the material and teach our students that it wasn’t just Dr. Martin Luther King Junior and Rosa Parks who fought for justice in the 1950’s and 60’s.
