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Get on the Bus: Conversations on Desegregation
Historic Columbia invites you to travel through history as the Honorable Matthew J. Perry, Jr. drives a conversation on the fight for equality in South Carolina's school systems.

(Columbia, SC) - Historic Columbia's Annual Parlor Lecture returns with, Get on the Bus: Conversations on Desegregation on March 21 from 3:00 to 4:30 p.m. at the Clarion Town House Hotel, 1615 Gervais Street. Focusing on the history of desegregation from Clarendon County to the steps of the United States Supreme Court, the program features a keynote address by Judge Matthew J. Perry, Jr. followed by a panel discussion with W. Lewis Burke, Ph. D., Retired Supreme Court Chief Justice Ernest A. Finney, Jr., Mr. B.B. Delaine of the Briggs-Delaine-Pearson Foundation and Noble P. Cooper, D.D.S.

In May 1950, a group of twenty African Americans from Clarendon County, with help from NAACP Legal Defense Fund, filed Briggs v. Elliott in an effort to equalize public school facilities and transportation. Two months later, NAACP attorneys amended the effort to challenge segregation as a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution.

Briggs v. Elliott jump started the fight for desegregation and would ultimately become one of five cases argued in the Supreme Court as Brown, et al. v. Board of Education the case that would defeat the long held "separate but equal" doctrine. The 1954 Supreme Court decision for the plaintiffs effectively denied the legal basis for segregation and marked the beginning of a new era of civil rights and social change.

For reservations to Get on the Bus: Conversations on Desegregation please call Historic Columbia at 252.7742 ext 22. This event is sponsored by the law firm of Nelson, Mullins, Riley & Scarborough.

Historic Columbia was founded in 1961 by a group of preservationists determined to save the Ainsley Hall House, known today as the Robert Mills House. More than four decades later Historic Columbia now manages four historic house museums and their associated artifacts. Through programs of advocacy, education and preservation, Historic Columbia protects, supports and nurtures the historical and cultural heritage of Columbia, South Carolina.

Clarion Town House Hotel, 1615 Gervais Street
Built on the site of the 19th century Minnaugh Mansion - which served as headquarters for General Sherman when he marched on Columbia, the Clarion Town House Hotel is a 163-room full service hotel conveniently located near the downtown business district, state capital building and University of South Carolina. For more information please call 803.771.8711 or visit www.clariontownhouse.com.

CONTACT
Adam M. Roy
Public Relations Coordinator
803.252.1770 ext. 27
aroy@historiccolumbia.org

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