Smithsonian Institute: Separate is Not Equal
Harry Rubenstein
Curator
Monday, May 17, 2004; 3:30 p.m ET
To mark the 50 year anniversary of the Supreme Court's landmark decision on Brown v. Board of Education, the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History opens a new exhibit, "Separate is Not Equal: Brown v. Board of Education." The exhibit features replicas of divided classrooms, lunch halls and facilities; the Woolworth's Lunch Counter from the 1960 sit-in protest in Greensboro, N.C.; demonstration posters and memorabilia and archived videos.
Curator Harry Rubenstein was online Monday, May 17 at 3:30 p.m. ET to discuss the exhibit and the anniversary of the landmark case.
The transcript follows.
Editor's Note: washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control
over Live Online discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions.
Harry Rubenstein: Glad to join you today on the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board. I am co-curator of the new exhibition "Separate Is Not Equal: Brown v. Board of Education" at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History which opened on last Saturday. I'm ready for your questions!
_______________________
Bowie, Md.:
Your exhibit is tiled "Separate but not Equal." That's the universally accepted view of history today -- that the "equal" part was empty lip-service attempting to make segregation not sound like discrimination.
Was there ever a time or place in the South that white politicians, voters or state court systems argued that black schools needed to be made more equal?
Harry Rubenstein: There had been campaigns in the South to equalize or come closer to equalizing the schools. But these rarely had results. In the D.C. schools that were segregated while they were never really completely equal, there were attempts to structure some of the programs to be on par with each other. But for most of the south, separate was never equal nor ever really intended to be equal.
_______________________
Harrisburg, Pa.:
How long will the exhibit run? What hours and days is the exhibit open?
Harry Rubenstein: The exhibition is scheduled to be open for one year. During that year we are planning a series of programs and special tours. The museum is free and is open every day except Christmas.
_______________________
New Haven, Conn.:
I hear North carolina was one of the last states to desegregate. How recent was the state still working on the problem.
Harry Rubenstein: The issue of segregation and re-segregation is an issue that cities and states around the country are still confronting. This results from changing housing patterns, white flight and new immigration. The promise of Brown was to provide equal educational opportunity for all children. This is something that all communities will continue to face as long as this is a goal.
_______________________
Virginia:
What are the highlights of the exhibit and will you include today's opening of the Monroe Elementary School museum?
Harry Rubenstein: The exhibition includes over 200 objects and images. These things range from a Ku Klux Klan robe, a divided school room, personal objects that belonged to Thurgood Marshall and Earl Warren, objects from each of the five communities involved in the case, and more recent Civil Rights objects including the Greensboro Lunch Counter. We do not have plans to include additional material from the Monroe school, but this could change.
_______________________
Washington, D.C.:
How did the research for the exhibit begin, how long did it take and who were the organizers? Was the exhibit a response from the public or from the Smithsonian board?
Harry Rubenstein: We began the exhibition about two years ago. The original idea for the exhibition was first put forward by Alonzo Smith, the exhibition's co-curator, who is a historian in the division of cultural history here at the museum.
_______________________
Alexandria, Va.:
Do you think that today's youth understands the impact of the Brown v. Board case?
Harry Rubenstein: I think they understand some of the impact. It's hard to really understand how much was achieved unless you have a full understanding of what life was like during a period of legalized segregation that was practiced in many parts of the country, particularly the south. This had both a very violent side that tolerated lynching as well as an ongoing reminder to blacks that they must stay in their place.
_______________________
Anonymous:
Why did Mr. Smith push for the exhibit?
Harry Rubenstein: We all realized that the Brown case was one of the most important landmarks in American justice in the 20th century. It really represented a turning point in race relations in this country. The challenge for us was to make this legal case both understandable and compelling in an exhibition setting that demands telling the story through objects and graphics.
_______________________
Maryland:
Will there be teaching guides available for schools who take field trips to the Smithsonian to see the exhibit?
Harry Rubenstein: YES! We have teaching guides that are available on request from the museum's education office as well as on our Web site: http://americanhistory.si.edu/brown. We are also doing a virtual electronic field trip which will take place on Wed, May 19. This field trip is designed for both middle and high school students. You can get more information on these trips on the Web site as well.
_______________________
Fairfax, Va.:
Will the exhibit bring to light events around the case 50 years ago or personal narratives that haven't been talked about nationally in the press or in history books?
Harry Rubenstein: Very often people when talking about the Brown case just think about the story of Linda Brown, a young girl who had to walk to school past white schools to get to her classroom. Brown is much more of a story about the struggles of people in five communities from Topeka, Kansas; Clarendon County, SC; Wilmington, Delaware; Farmville, Virginia; Washington D.C.; as well as the dedicated work of courageous attorneys who put together a legal strategy and worked with these clients. Our aim of the exhibition was to tell ALL of their stories and to recognize the contributions they made.
_______________________
Washington, D.C.:
Do you think Thurgood Marshall would be satisfied with the level of integration in contemporary public schools?
Harry Rubenstein: Probably not. Schools increasingly in many areas, are being re-segregated. I'm sure he would recognize, as he did at the time, that this is an ongoing struggle that everyone needs to be concerned about.
_______________________
Washington, DC:
What is your favorite artifact in the exhibition?
Harry Rubenstein: There are many objects in the show. One of my favorite objects is a dining room table from the home of Lucinda Todd. She was the Secretary of the local NAACP Chapter in Topeka, Kansas. It was around this table, with curtains drawn, the members of the local NAACP, parents, and attorneys met to strategize the legal campaign. According to Mrs. Todd, "This is where it all began."
_______________________
Fairfax, Va.:
Mr. Rubenstetin,
How far do you think has school integration has come over the last 50 years in regards to the different regions in the U.S. -- East/West Coasts, Midwest and the South? Will this exhbit be temporary and do you hope to have another one in the next 50 years?
Harry Rubenstein: I'd say that school integration varies not so much by region of the country but by local communities. It also now includes issues regarding new immigrants as well as longstanding groups. The exhibition is scheduled to be up for one year, and it would be interesting to do another exhibition 50 years from now to see how far we've come. That will have to be the task of someone else.
_______________________
Vienna, Va.:
How do you think standardized testing has changed over the last 50 years to reflect the integration of classrooms? There is still a testing gap that is defined by race.
Harry Rubenstein: Standardized testing was not really an issue at this time. It was really about trying to provide equal opportunity to all children.
_______________________
Virginia:
What do you think education would be like if the Brown case had been lost? What makes Brown so important?
Harry Rubenstein: It's hard to know what would have happened if the Brown case had been lost. It might have set back progress for greater racial equality if the court had ruled that segregation was Constitutional, not only for blacks but for women, other minorities, the disabled, and the elderly. This is what makes the Brown case so important. It was a clear statement that equality was to be protected by the Constitution.
_______________________
Silver Spring, Md.:
Will there be any part of the exhibit that will show how diverse classrooms are currently? Do you think that we need to look at Brown v. Board beyond the black and white paradigm?
Harry Rubenstein: We talk a little bit about diverse classrooms today, but more importantly, throughout the exhibition, we talk about how legalized segregation affected not only blacks but other people of color and other social groups. When the decision was made everyone realized that it's impact would be on all Americans, not just one group.
_______________________
Vienna, Va.:
Nonetheless standardized testing needs to be addressed! A lot of the news coverage reflects on Brown v. Board by looking at the test scores today and how racially divided the gap is! Why haven't we progressed in what we teach in classrooms to reflect the integration and multicultural students.
Harry Rubenstein: The gap in testing scores has more to do with the resources that exist between schools than the diversity of the students. Brown was arguing that the most important thing was to provide equal opportunity for all students.
_______________________
Bethesda, Md.:
Does the exhibit have films or narratives of personal stories that follow-up on students 50 years later? Also are kids allowed to touch any of the pieces or sit in a mock classroom to get a glimpse of the experience that students had 50 years ago?
Harry Rubenstein: The exhibition includes a video where a number of people who were either involved in the case or in Civil Rights issues today discuss the legacy of Brown.
In the re-created classroom, we have desks that visitors can sit in and watch a film from the 1930s about segregated schools in South Carolina.
_______________________
Harry Rubenstein: Thanks everyone for their interesting questions. Hope to see you all in the exhibition. For more information about the exhibition itself and future programs, please visit:
http://americanhistory.si.edu/brown. Take care.
_______________________
Automatically Update Page
Get New Responses
Submit Question
| 
