(COLUMBIA, SC) In recognition of American Education Week, the Columbia College Department of Education will sponsor "Remembering Briggs v. Elliott: South Carolinians Who Propelled Social Change," on Monday, November 15, 3:30 p.m., in room 201-202 of the Breed Leadership Center. Presenter will be historian Dr. Janet Hudson of Winthrop University.
The event is free and open to the public.
Although history books record that the case which ultimately ended school segregation in the United States was Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, many argue that the decision actually began in South Carolina. Briggs v. Elliott evolved from a request to provide bus transportation for African American students in Clarendon County and became the first desegregation case to reach the U.S. Supreme Court in December 1952. It was named for Harry Briggs, one of 20 parents who brought suit against R.W. Elliott, president of the Clarendon County School Board.
An assistant professor of history at Winthrop University, Hudson holds a B.A. degree, summa cum laude, from Middle Tennessee State University and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of South Carolina. She was awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Fellowship in 2003 to participate in a Harvard University institute on "African American Struggles for Freedom and Civil Rights, 1866-1965." She was also awarded "Best Article by a Professional Historian" in the Proceedings of the South Carolina Historical Association, 1999-2000, for her article, "Ben Bess and the Dictates of White Supremacy: An Unpardonable Crime?"
