LANSING, MI -- Mid-Michigan is set to honor a high point of the Civil Rights Movement. The Lansing Branch NAACP, Michigan Legislative Black Caucus, Michigan State University, Sister Cities Commission along with the City of Lansing are the proud hosts of the Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education 50th Anniversary Dinner with special guest speaker, Ernest G. Green, the oldest of the Little Rock Nine.

In 1950, Black children like third grader Linda Brown walked miles to Black schools each day even when there were closer Whites schools in the area. Eventually, fueled with enough anger, Linda’s father, Oliver Brown, went to his local NAACP to enlist their help in fighting the battle of segregation in public schools. As more parents joined the Brown campaign in 1951, the NAACP requested an injunction that would forbid the segregation of Topeka’s public schools.

On May 17, 1954, the U. S. Supreme Court struck down the “separate but equal” doctrine of Plessey for Public Education, ruling in favor of the plaintiffs thus requiring the desegregation of schools across America. In 1957, the Little Rock Nine were the first group of African American students to integrate Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas.

When the 1957 school year started Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus defied the federal court, by calling in the Arkansas National Guard to prevent the Black students from attending Central High School.

However, after a meeting with President Eisenhower, Faubus agreed to let the students attend the school, but he dismissed the National Guard leaving the students exposed to a very angry group of White mobsters.

Due to the lack of order President Eisenhower dispatched the 101st Airborne Division Paratroopers to Little Rock to restore order and protect the Black students.

The following year, the Arkansas governor closed all the high schools forcing African American students to either take correspondence courses or attend out of state schools. Fortunately, the school board reopened public schools in the fall of 1959. Despite many trials and tribulations Ernest Green was one of the first African American students to ever graduate from Central High School. He later went on to graduate from Michigan State University.

A gala celebration of this momentous challenge of the civil rights struggle will take place on Wednesday May 12, 2004 at the Lansing Center in downtown Lansing MI. Tickets are $40.00 per person and the proceeds will go to the Ernest Green Endowed Scholarship Fund at MSU and the LRSCC Ghana Humanitarian Fund.

Ryan Menefee is a 10th grader at East Lansing High School.

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