Brown v Board of Education - Context and Legacy
A Maryland Humanities Council Special Initiative

May 17, 2004 marked the fiftieth anniversary of the unanimous Supreme Court decision in Brown v Board of Education, which outlawed segregation in public education. Several steps led to that landmark decision - many of them taken in Maryland. Donald G. Murray's lawsuit against the University of Maryland Law School in 1934 was a pivotal step; as was the shrewd legal strategy of Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP in equalizing Maryland teachers' salaries in 1941; and the peaceful integration of fifteen black engineering students at Baltimore Polytechnic School in 1952. In fact, Maryland was the first legally segregated state to implement the Brown decision in the fall of 1954, one year ahead of the court's deadline.

In commemoration of Brown's anniversary, the Maryland Humanities Council launched the Special Initiative on Brown v Board of Education - Context and Legacy. We partnered with nearly 40 cultural, historical, educational, legal and community organizations from all over Maryland (a complete list is available here) to offer the following programs:

	Speakers Bureau. New topics expanded our Speakers Bureau, including "Expert Witnesses: The NAACP's Brown Case Strategy" and "The Road to Brown: Lynching on Maryland's Eastern Shore." 25 organizations offered these presentations, free to the public, all over Maryland.
	Magazine. The fall issue of our magazine, Maryland Humanities, explored the impact of Brown and the Civil Rights movement in Maryland. Maryland Humanities is available here.
	Essay Contest. Our Maryland History Day program sponsored a statewide essay contest for middle and high school students investigating the effects of the Brown v Board decision.
	Grants. Brown-related grants included a three-day conference sponsored by two traditionally black colleges in Baltimore and the University of Maryland School of Law; a major conference at Hood College; book discussion series on Maryland's Eastern Shore; a traveling exhibition based on oral history interviews about desegregation in Frederick County in central Maryland; broadcasts on Maryland Public Television; and lectures and a curriculum guide developed by Prince George's Community College. The Brown grant projects reached over 70,000 people.
	Radio Programs. The Maryland Humanities Council collaborated with WYPR-FM public radio in Baltimore and Frederick to produce a six-part radio documentary series, entitled "Brown v. Board of Education: The Maryland Story," exploring the impact of the Brown decision in Maryland. The Council served as historical consultant to the project, providing extensive interview contacts, oral history resources, archival references, and story leads. The program reached an estimated 160,000 people in the Baltimore and Frederick metropolitan areas and online.

With the Brown v Board Special Initiative - its first - the Maryland Humanities Council reached almost 400,000 people in Maryland. For more resources on the Brown decision, visit these links.