Before Brown:
Higher Education for the "Other"
Linda Brown and Classmates, 1954
The second Morrill Act in 1890 that federally funded more land-grant universities required that the institutions not discriminate by race or color. Many larger state-funded universities, particularly in the new western states, were thus originally founded as integrated campuses. Some state universities, including a few in the South like the University of Arkansas, integrated their campuses before the Supreme Court ruling. Many institutions of higher education, however, remained segregated. The Brown decision in 1954 did not directly address segregation at the university level, but it did create a climate for change.
Before the landmark decision of Brown vs. the Board of Education, opportunities for higher education focused on the white, and mostly male, population. Many renown colleges and universities in the United States admitted neither people of color nor women. Colleges and institutes for the "other" student population were founded as early as the Eighteenth century, often beginning as schools for secondary education and growing to prominence. This virtual exhibition highlights a few of these institutions for the "under-represented" in higher education prior to the landmark decision. The campus and its art reflect the special identity and protective environment created for students of color and female students fortunate to attend a place to call their own.
The Case: Brown vs. The Board of Education
Campus Identity before Brown vs. The Board of Education
Created by:
Lorenza Amico (lorenza@virginia.edu), Brenda Bikos (bmb4d@virginia.edu), Jennifer Parker, and Lucie Wall Stylianopoulos (lws4n@virginia.edu) for the Fiske Kimball Fine Arts Library, University of Virginia.
February-March 2004
Honored with an award for Outstanding Library Contribution from the University of Virginia Libraries, April 2004