Arts & Sciences

Photo courtesy Library of Congress.From left, attorneys George E.C. Hayes, Thurgood Marshall and James M. Nabrit Jr. congratulate each other following the U.S. Supreme Court decision declaring segregation in public schools unconstitutional.When the U.S. Supreme Court handed down the Brown v. Board of Education ruling 50 years ago, it based its opinion on the premise that the lives of African-Americans were irreparably harmed by the stigma of segregation, leaving their lives bereft of hope and opportunity. Not all African-Americans accepted this idea, however, leading to skepticism about the Brown decision, says Tomiko Brown-Nagin, J.D., Ph.D., an associate professor in Washington University’s School of Law and in the Department of History in Arts & Sciences. “Although black ambivalence about Brown may appear to be a phenomenon of recent vintage — one connected to the ‘black pride’ movement of the late ’60s and ’70s or the multicultural movement of the early ’90s — in fact it has deep historical roots,” she says. “The historical record should be revised to correct received wisdom: the notion that African-Americans across time and place uniformly supported the campaign to integrate the schools is an historical misconception.”

*Overcoming Apartheid*South Africans celebrate a decade of democracy this month as they observe the 10th anniverary of the April 1994 elections that brought Nelson Mandela to power and ended years of apartheid and white rule. While many expected South Africa’s transition to democracy to be filled with pain and heartbreak, a new book attributes the nation’s remarkable success to it’s steadfast faith in the power of truth to promote national healing and reconciliation. “Without the truth and reconciliation process, the prospects for a reconciled, democratic South Africa would have been greatly diminished,” concludes James L. Gibson, author of “Overcoming Apartheid: Can Truth Reconcile a Divided Nation?”

The U.S. Supreme CourtOn May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously declared that separate educational facilities are “inherently unequal” and, as such, violate the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees all citizens “equal protection under the law.” The Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education was a vitally important one. The landmark case not only opened the door for black children in the United States to attend all-white schools in their neighborhoods, but it also gave momentum to the fight toward desegregating the entire country. But an education expert at Washington University in St. Louis argues that as we approach the 50th anniversary of the decision, we still have much work ahead of us to achieve a high-quality education for all students.

“Mitts Across the Pacific: Baseball in Japan and the United States” is the topic of a panel discussion with owners of the St. Louis Cardinals and the Orix Bluewaves of Japan at 2 p.m. April 16 in the Moot Courtroom, Anheuser-Busch Hall. Free and open to the public, the forum features Bluewaves owner Yoshihiko Miyauchi; Frederick O. Hanser, vice chairman of the St. Louis Cardinals; and Timothy Hanser, vice president of community outreach, Cardinals Care. They will discuss the use of performance-enhancing drugs, the internationalization of baseball, new stadiums, salary caps, parity between teams and the future of baseball in Japan and the United States.

Dave Kilper/WUSTL Photo ServicesSenior Dave Carp as Yang Sun in Bertolt Brecht’s “The Good Person of Szechwan.”In an unjust world, is it possible to be good? Such is the dilemma posed by The Good Person of Szechwan, Bertold Brecht’s provocative modern parable about the tensions and alliances between virtue and ruthlessness. Washington University’s Performing Arts Department in Arts & Sciences will present the show as its spring MainStage production April 16-18 and 23-25.

BlankCarrine Blank, Ph.D. , assistant professor of earth and planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences, has found that the currently accepted dates for the appearance of oxygen-producing bacteria and sulfur-producing bacteria on the early earth are not correct. She believes that these bacteria appeared on earth much later than is now believed.

Image courtesy of the Cellar Store, San Bernardino, CA.A new book is persuading ecologists to think “outside the helmet”.An ecologist at Washington University in St. Louis has co-authored a new book that is forcing the pith helmet set to “think outside the helmet.” Jonathan M. Chase, Ph.D., assistant professor of biology in Arts& Sciences at Washington University and Mathew A. Leibold, Ph.D.,associate professor of integrative biology at the University of Texas at Austin, take on one of the tenets of ecology, niche theory, which holds that species evolve and thrive because of their particular environment and what activities they do to shape that environment, providing them their niche, if you will.

The Sacagawea Golden DollarAs the nation commemorates the 200th anniversary of the 1804-06 Lewis and Clark Expedition, the explorers’ journals, which offer a veritable treasure trove of information, are being scrutinized as never before. Two historians at Washington University in St. Louis say, however, that most scholars studying the journals aren’t familiar with the literature of the time, and therefore don’t thoroughly understand the content. For example, Lewis writes that Sacagawea, the only woman on the expedition, became extremely ill due to her “taking could” (sic). Most reading that passage interpreted it as “taking a cold. The Washington University researchers think that actually she was pregnant again and had a miscarriage because “taking a cold” was a euphemism for pregnancy back then.

Photo courtesy U.S. Army Corps of EngineersBarge traffic makes its way through a lock on the Upper Mississippi.”Our Rivers: A Sustainable Resource?” is the focus of a public education forum that four Washington University faculty will lead as part of a community-wide symposium being held in conjunction with the 5th annual St. Louis Earth Day Celebration, April 22-23. The sustainable rivers program will be held April 22 from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. and will feature Washington University faculty Charles Buescher, professor of environmental engineering, Robert Criss, Ph.D., professor of earth and planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences and William Lowry, Ph.D., professor of political science in Arts & Sciences. The colloquium will provide a background history of the rivers in our region and their various uses in transportation, agriculture, power production, recreation and public water supply.

U.S. Poet Laureate Louise Glück will present a pair of events April 6 and 8 for the Spring Reading Series 2004, offered by The Writing Program and the Department of English in Arts and Sciences at Washington University.