The Brown Sisters Lecture

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The Brown Sisters

Upon hearing the narrative assignment, I found myself stunned that I would actually have to attend a lecture outside of my classes. When scanning the list of possible events, the Brown Sisters lecture stood out in my mind. I had just completed an essay solely devoted to the decision and it’s impact on society so I thought it would be interesting to hear a first hand account of the tumultuous times these brave women faced. The lecture turned out to be more interesting than I originally imagined though I left with a slight sense of dissatisfaction.

As I slowly trudged up the steps of Foellinger Auditorium, I saw my pledge mom and walked up to her prolonging the time before I had to enter the room. She immediately asked, “What class are you here for?” African Americans were forced to deal with social inequalities for centuries by their white counterparts and struggled to break free of the chains of racism. The Brown decision took a huge step towards fixing the discrepancies between races and should be celebrated by every citizen of our country. If the Brown family appeared at a university, every one should flock to see people that made the advancement of African Americans possible. But in reality, student converse about that mean teacher that makes his students attend outside lectures and how their time could be better spent.

The composition of the audience came as no surprise to me. Students sat with dread as they pulled out notebooks in order to fulfill a required class assignment. Teachers and administration scattered the audience and a predominantly African American high school class filed in also wearing faces of discontent as a result of a required field trip. Two mi...

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...band never got to see the success of Brown due to his death shortly after the decision but I think that Oliver Brown, to this day, would not be satisfied. To my disappointment, they did not deal with issues surrounding the current integration status and spent little time talking about what changed after the decision.

Growing up, I lived a sheltered life and issues of integration did not concern me. As I further investigate the aftermath of the Brown v. Board of Education decision, I become decreasingly naïve about our current integration situation. When thinking about the area I live in, I notice that integration is nonexistent. Our society has come a long way in the past fifty years since the decision but we still have a long road ahead of us. The Brown decision signifies the beginning of the fight against segregation not the end of it, as many people believe.

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