70th Anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education
In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling stating that U.S. state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools are unconstitutional, even if the segregated schools are otherwise equal in quality. The Court's unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education paved the way for integration and was a major victory of the civil rights movement.
To mark the 70th anniversary of Brown, the Ohio Black Judge’s Association presented a Black History Month program on Thursday, February 22, highlighting the history and impact of the ruling. The program was held at the Justice Center in collaboration with Ohio Humanities.
The speakers included Marilyn Sanders Mobley, Ph.D., Emerita Professor of English and Africana Studies at Case Western Reserve University; Melvin Barnes, Ph.D, Program Officer at Ohio Humanities; Rebecca Asmo, CEO of Ohio Humanities; and Civil Rights Attorney James Hardiman.
Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge Cassandra Collier-Williams is co-chair of the Ohio Black Judges Association, and this was the group’s third annual Black History Month CLE progam.
“OBJA is committed to illuminating issues of implicit and explicit bias, procedural fairness and racial fairness through our daily example, as well as through continuing education for the legal professional we work beside and the community as a whole,” says Judge Collier-Williams and co-chair Judge Emanuella Groves of the 8th District Court of Appeals.
More than 110 people registered for the event.
