Friday 29 June 2007

News: Supreme Court Rules On Race In School

Yesterday, Supreme Court judges ruled that race can't be used as a factor to determine where a student can go to school, thereby limiting the ability of schools to promote integration. The move has been interpreted by many as a rolling back of the landmark 1954 Brown vs Board of Education ruling that declared segregation in the education system to be unconstitutional. As the New York Times editorial put it:

The Supreme Court ruled 53 years ago in Brown v. Board of Education that segregated education is inherently unequal, and it ordered the nation's schools to integrate. Yesterday, the court switched sides and told two cities that they cannot take modest steps to bring public school students of different races together. It was a sad day for the court and for the ideal of racial equality.

Slate Magazine examines the internet's reaction to the ruling; The Village Voice highlights Justice Stephen Breyer's dissenting opinion; learn more about Brown vs Board of Education here.

Conference: Race, Memory and Reclamation

This September, the School of American Studies will be hosting Race, Memory and Reclamation, a two-day international conference. Running from the 7th-9th, it will use the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the international slave trade to explore a variety of questions relating to subaltern people within the United States and the ways in which they have sought to reclaim the histories of their ancestors.

The booking deadline is July 31 - a booking form and further information are available here. Alternatively, contact Rebecca Fraser, becky.fraser@uea.ac.uk.

Thursday 28 June 2007

Open Day

The next UEA open day will be held on Friday 6 July. More information is available here and here.

Wednesday 27 June 2007

Welcome

Welcome to the American Studies at the University of East Anglia blog - an informal guide to news, events and matters of interest related to the School, its staff and students, and our discipline.

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