Inspired by the University of Illinois's celebration of the Brown v. Board of Education decision's fiftieth anniversary, this collection addresses the significance of Brown in the contributors' lives or work in education and civil rights. Several authors describe their personal roles in the Brown case or similar cases, while others examine and illustrate events, performances, and exhibitions that were part of the anniversary commemoration. The book not only explores the repercussions of the Brown decision, but also stands as a historic document in its own right, preserving the reactions of many prominent intellectuals, artists, and activists fifty years after the decision.

Contributors are Kal Alston, Margaret L. Andersen, Kathryn H. Anthony, Nathaniel C. Banks, Bernice McNair Barnett, Christopher Benson, Ed Blankenheim, Julian Bond, Orville Vernon Burton, Jason Chambers, Constance Curry, Joseph A. De Laine Jr., Mary L. Dudziak, Joe R. Feagin, John Hope Franklin, Ophelia De Laine Gona, Lani Guinier, Darlene Clark Hine, Freeman A. Hrabowski III, John Jennings, Ralph Lemon, George Lipsitz, Jim Loewen, Laughlin McDonald, David O'Brien, James C. Onderdonk, Sekou Sundiata, Christopher Teal, Nicholas Watkins, Carrie Mae Weems, Juan Williams, and Joy Ann Williamson.

|Acknowledgments
Introduction Orville Vernon Burton and David O'Brien SECTION 1: BROWN: ITS HISTORY AND LEGACY
1. Darlene Clark Hine
The Briggs v. Elliott Legacy: Black Culture, Consciousness, and Community before Brown, 1930-1954
2. George Lipsitz
Getting Around Brown: The Social Warrant of the New Racism
3. Margaret L. Andersen
From Brown to Grutter: The Diverse Beneficiaries of Brown v. Board of Education
4. Laughlin McDonald
Beyond School Desegregation: The Impact of Brown
5. Jason Chambers
"A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Waste": The Advertising Council, the United Negro College Fund, and Educational Access for African Americans
6. Joe R. Feagin and Bernice McNair Barnett
Success and Failure: How Systemic Racism Trumped the Brown v. Board of Education Decision
7. Lani Guinier
From Racial Liberalism to Racial Literacy: Brown v. Board of Education and the Interest-Divergence Dilemma

SECTION 2: BROWN AND LIVED EXPERIENCE
8. Joseph A. De Laine Jr.
Briggs: South Carolina's Bold Step That Led to Brown
9. Ophelia De Laine Gona
About Integration: In Memory of the Reverend J. A. De Laine
10. John Hope Franklin
My Life and Times with Thurgood Marshall
11. Constance Curry
The Intolerable Burden
12. James C. Onderdonk
The Freedom Riders: Two Personal Perspectives
13. Ed Blankenheim
Looking Back at the Freedom Riders
14. Kal Alston
The Middle Generation after Brown

SECTION 3: THE ARTS AND BROWN
15. Sekou Sundiata
Why Colored Faces in High Places Just Won't Do
16. John Jennings
The Chance Project
17. Ralph Lemon
What Was Always There
18. Carrie Mae Weems and David O'Brien
Art and Integration: An Interview with Carrie Mae Weems
19. David O'Brien
Social Studies: Eight Artists Address Brown

SECTION 4: ILLINOIS AND BROWN
20. Kathryn H. Anthony and Nicholas Watkins
A Legacy of Firsts: African Americans in Architecture at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
21. Nathaniel C. Banks
Reflections on the Brown Commemoration from a Champaign Native
22. Joy Ann Williamson Lott
Reform in the Black Power Era
23. Richard...