Nov 8: Segregation Then and Now, with pre- and post-Brown DCPS Alumni

UPDATE: Full recording available at this link.

As DC’s schools become increasingly segregated, it is imperative to listen to the voices of those who have experienced schools here both before, and after, the landmark Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education.

On Thursday November 8, Education Town Hall will have the great honor of hosting four African American women whose experiences in DC’s public schools straddle the time immediately before and after Brown—with a discussion of a landmark DC desegregation case that set the stage for Brown. Listen at 11 a.m. EASTERN on Thursday, November 8, via TuneIn or by visiting We Act Radio and clicking on arrow at upper left (NOTE: Not all “listen” buttons are working at present).

One of our guests is Katheryne Willis, the daughter of Margurite Carr Stokes, who died on August 20. In 1947, Carr Stokes as a 13-year-old sued the city to attend the all-white Eliot Junior High instead of her assigned (and overcrowded) black middle school, Browne. We will discuss Carr Stokes’ legacy as a fierce trailblazer–and put her legal effort into the context of what each of these women experienced as DC public school students both immediately before and immediately after Brown. Our other guests include DC community activist, public servant, and Eastern high school graduate Johnnie Scott Rice; Anne Batiste, Eastern high school graduate; and Alfreda Wright, Roosevelt graduate.

The Education Town Hall with Thomas Byrd
broadcasts from Historic Anacostia
in Washington, DC, on We Act Radio,
Thursdays at 11:00 a.m. Eastern
New programming 2nd and 4th Thursdays, alternating with classic shows.
Listen live via TuneIn.
Shows are archived for convenient listening shortly after broadcast.

After years of weekly broadcasts, the program now focuses one show each month on local issues and one on “the BUS,” organized by BadAss Teachers, United Opt Out, and SOS March.