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Channel 48 airs Law School panel

  • Remember when
    Remember when  Larry Palmer (r), William & Mary Law School, and Mildred Wigfall Robinson, University of Virginia Law School discuss the impact of the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision during a Feb. 26th panel.  
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This year marks the 55th anniversary of the Supreme Court ruling in the case of Brown v. the Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas.  This spring, four professors from the William & Mary Law School - Linda Malone, Larry Palmer, Davison Douglas, and Paul Marcus – participated in a panel discussion of the decision and its impact, "Remembering Brown v. Board of Education." City of Williamsburg Channel 48 broadcast the discussion  June 13 – a date that marks the anniversary of Thurgood Marshall's appointment to the Supreme Court in 1967. Malone is the Marshall-Wythe Foundation Professor of Law and Director, Human Rights and National Security Law Program; Palmer is a professor of law and research professor, Thomas Jefferson Program in Public Policy; Douglas is the Arthur B. Hansen Professor of Law and incoming dean of the Law school; and Marcus is the Haynes Professor of Law and the Kelly Professor of Teaching Excellence.

For the discussion, the four professors joined Mildred Wigfall Robinson, the Doherty Charitable Foundation Professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, to share their reflections on school desegregation in the 1950s and 1960s. They were all contributors to a new book, co-edited by Robinson: "Law Touched Our Hearts: A Generation Remembers Brown v. Board of Education" (Vanderbilt Press).

The title of the book comes from a comment President Eisenhower made to Chief Justice Earl Warren in 1954 about desegregation, that "law and force cannot change a man's heart."

The forum will air in the City of Williamsburg on Ch. 48 throughout the month of June.  All broadcasts also stream live on the City's website. The channel's complete schedule is available on the City's website.

Residents of James City County should consult the County's website for their broadcast schedule.

This is the sixth in a series of broadcasts as a result of a partnership announced in February 2009 between the City and the College of William & Mary to broadcast lectures, seminars, and performances on Channel 48. Previous programs have included a Mason School of Business forum on the financial crisis; the Global Forum at the Reves Center; Senator Webb at Charter Day as well as the entire Charter Day program; Darwin Across the Disciplines; and a master class with Whitetop Mountain Band.

The Brown v. Board panel was sponsored by the Dean's Office, the Black Law Students Association, the Institute of Bill of Rights Law, and the Human Security Law Program.

The September after the Brown v. Board ruling, Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren made his first public address following the decision. Links pertaining to this visit from the college's Special Collections Research Center may be found attached to this story.