Crenshaw
began her lecture by analyzing the controversial Plessy
V.Ferguson
trial in 1890 which established the "separate but
equal" policy for blacks and whites.
Moving
to twentieth century court cases, Crenshaw focused on the
1954 verdict of Brown V. Board of Education. Crenshaw argued
that the
Brown decision was meant to abolish the "separate" emphasis
of the Plessy trial while maintaining its "equal" intent.
That intent,
Crenshaw said, was evidenced by adding to the ruling the
concept of integration.
Crenshaw
concluded her lecture by examining the recent affirmative
action lawsuit at Michigan State University. She viewed
the Michigan lawsuit as an example of the ways in which
the Brown decision supported the idea of racial integration
but failed to implement
an end to segregation.
The
lecture was part of the series "Geographies of
Color: Education, Inequality, and Black Leadership in the
Twentieth-First Century," sponsored by Mount Holyoke
College's Weissman Center for Leadership and the Liberal
Arts. Entitled "From
Integration to Affirmative Action: The Contested Status of
Brown in the Campaign to End White
Supremacy," Crenshaw's lecture was presented March 4,
2004 in front of a large audience.
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