Vanessa Adams-Harris - The Oklahoma Brown Case In the 1950s a small town in Oklahoma, Bartlesville, is where Miss Ruth W. Brown, librarian, was summarily dismissed after 30 years of service because she had circulated subversive materials. What materials did a library hold that would be considered subversive? The Brown case exemplifies the strange period…

Rebecca Jimerson - The Music of the Civil Rights Movement This workshop will delve into the music of the Civil Rights Movement drawing inspiration from African American spirituals, gospel hymns, blues, jazz, and folk songs music. The songs of the movement were a powerful source to uplift, strengthen, and spread messages of hope. Handouts to…

Tuesday, May 28th -- Earl Warren (1891-1974) Earl Warren was the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court from 1953 through 1969, a period of intense challenges to American civil rights. The Warren Court provided momentous decisions that reshaped our world, from the Brown Case to Miranda. Warren led the Court to end segregation, open voting…

Dr. Leslie Goddard - Rating the First Ladies The role of First Lady comes with no job description, no pay, and no written requirements. Yet America's presidential spouses have wielded great influence and have always been subject to intense public scrutiny. In this interactive illustrated lecture, historian Dr. Leslie Goddard explored which First Ladies have…

Dr. Doug Mishler - War and a Question of Rights This workshop will explore how a variety of wars from the Revolution to the war on terror have affected the rights of individual Americans. From shaping the Bill of Rights in the 18th century, to freedom of speech during WWI, internment in WWII, Cold War…

Dr. James Armstead - The Civil War Amendments The 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the US Constitution individually marked important milestones in American history and collectively served to satisfy the war aims of the Lincoln administration. These new freedoms changed American Society in so many unanticipated ways and set the stage for a living…

Vanessa Adams-Harris - Unsung Heroes of the Civil Rights Movement From the children here in Oklahoma with Clara Luper in Oklahoma City, a young Claudette Colvin who at age 15 refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus, to the Citizenship Education Program throughout the south and its rural communities. Just who, what…

Rebecca Jimerson - Coretta Scott Kin and the "Freedom Concerts" This workshop will present the storied history of the Freedom Concerts. Combining poetry, narration, and music to tell the story of the Civil Rights movement. Concluding with participants staging a Freedom Concert. Handouts to be circulated to workshop attendees.  

Dr. Leslie Goddard - The Lady Bird Special In October 1964, the Lady Bird Special train pulled away from Washington D.C. Over the next four days, the train carried First Lady Claudia "Lady Bird" Johnson on a whistle-stop tour of eight Southern states to garner support for Lyndon B. Johnson's presidential campaign in the face…

Friday, May 31st -- Thurgood Marshall (1908-1993) Thurgood Marshall was a civil rights layer and activist his entire professional life. As head of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, he acted as legal counsel on some of the most important cases in U.S. history and helped construct a legal strategy that desegregated America in the mid-20th…

Dr. Doug Mishler - The Supreme Court's Role in American Life We will cover not just the Warren Court but peruse a variety of Supreme Courts from the first of John Marshall up to the Robert's Court today. We will explore how the Court has been called upon to decide cases that have an immense…

Dr. James Armstead - Plessy vis a vis Brown The Supreme Court responded to the legal challenge against state sanctioned involuntary segregation in 1896 with an attempted social compromise using the tortured language of the separate but equal doctrine to support the status quo. This doctrine denied the intent of the equal protection clause of…

Saturday, June 1st -- Coretta Scott King (1927-2006) King was an American author, activist, civil rights leader, and the wife of Martin Luther King Jr. Her activism started before her marriage, then complemented and influenced her husbands' political work, and continued long after his death. Coretta's musical background influenced her work and she kept music…