Speaking to a standing-room-only crowd, Beverly Tatum addressed race relations yesterday in the Ohio Union’s Stecker Lounge.
Author and president of Spelman College, Tatum is widely known for her book, “Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?” which won the multicultural event of the year by the National Association of Multicultural Education.
The title of Tatum’s lecture, “Fifty years after Brown v. Board of Education: Where are We Now,” signified the 50th anniversary of the 1954 Supreme Court case which ruled the practice of separate-but-equal to be unconstitutional.
“The year 2004 marks the 50th anniversary of the brave and insightful ruling that separate but equal is an oxymoron,” said Donna Evans, the dean of the College of Education at Ohio State.
Tatum began her lecture by informing the audience of her age.
“I was born in 1954, Tatum said. “I’m not telling you my age so that you know I am almost 50. My age means that I was born the same year as the Brown ruling. That one fact has changed my life.”
Tatum is a fourth generation college graduate. Her family’s genealogy includes attendance to such institutions as Howard University, Spelman University, Harvard University and the former Tuskegee Institute.
Even though Tatum’s father could not receive his undergraduate degree at Florida State University because of the slow implementation of the Brown ruling, he was able to finally receive his doctorate from Harvard.
“There were a few very important words in the ruling which were ‘with all deliberate speed’,” she said. “Florida State had yet to accept black students like my father.”
Her father’s experience reminds Tatum of the progress made since the beginning of her lifetime. This year, Tatum has been invited to give the keynote speech at Florida State.
Tatum also was alive during the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. As a race relations expert, she stressed the importance of this legislation, which guaranteed equal access to all public accommodations. She also elaborated on the need for continued progress.
“The social and political changes transpired in the last 50 years all happened during my lifetime,” Tatum said. “Those changes need to be continued. Fifty years after Brown, I am here to tell you that we still have work to do.”
Tatum referred to a dream she had to communicate the necessary progression progress.
“I once dreamt that I was driving and I drove off of the road onto a pile of rocks,” she said. “I asked, ‘What happened to the road?’ A voice answered, ‘There is no road.'”
This dream is a perfect metaphor for what needs to be done with race relation issues. A road is being built, but is under construction and not complete, she said.
“What are the problems of today? How will we move forward? What courageous action will we take?” she concluded.
Susan Christie, a teacher at North High School in Columbus and an OSU graduate student, regularly attends the diversity events on campus.
“It’s nice to have opportunities available like this right in our community,” Christie said. “It reminds me to take time to reflect about my own classroom and apply the lessons learned here today.”
