Art Tue Jul 05 2011

Exhibit at John Marshall Recounts Struggle for Civil Rights

By Jonah Newman. All photos by the author.

Marching Toward Justice: The History of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which is on display now at John Marshall Law School, is about much more than the milestone amendment, passed in 1868, which granted automatic citizenship to anyone born in the United States. The colorful, maze-like panels and giant black-and-white photographs cover more than 350 years of African-American history, from the arrival of slaves in the Americas in 1619 through the landmark 1954 Brown v. Board of Education ruling that ended legal segregation.

The exhibit, which details African-Americans' long struggle for civil equality, is the creation of the Damon J. Keith Law Collection of African American Legal History at Wayne State University Law School. It has toured more than a dozen U.S. cities since it opened in Washington D.C. in 1999, and comes to Chicago alongside the 105th national convention of Alpha Phi Alpha, the nation's oldest historically black fraternity.

Judge Keith, a 34-year veteran of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals attended the exhibit opening with his granddaughter, Nio Keith-Brown, a first-year law student at Emory University. He said the 14th Amendment laid the framework for future legal battles for equal rights.

"In my judgment, the 14th Amendment was the heart and soul of Brown v. Board," Judge Keith said. "The 14th Amendment embraces the whole structure of freedom."

In the old newspaper clips and photographs, the casual student of history will recognize many of the names: Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington and Thurgood Marshall are all present on the exhibit's panels.

But there are also those you may not recognize, including some historical figures who were unsuccessful in their efforts towards justice. Robert Morris, one of the first African-American lawyers, whose 1848 case against segregation in Boston public schools was struck down by the Massachusetts Supreme Court, is praised for his bravery and determination. On another wall, Supreme Court Justice John Marshall Harlan, the lone dissenter in Plessy v. Ferguson, which codified segregation through the doctrine "separate, but equal" is honored with a quotation from his minority opinion: "Our Constitution is color blind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among its citizens."

The exhibit stands to remind us that his words are no truer today than they were in 1896 when he wrote them. Despite the hard work of many individuals who stood up for the voiceless, our society remains imperfect and unequal.

"We all stand on the shoulders of those who came before us," said Rory Dean Smith, associate dean and director of diversity programs at John Marshall, who helped coordinate the exhibit's visit to Chicago. "Through this exhibit we all are inspired to help those who will be challenged or will be voiceless in the future."

The exhibit is free and open to the public and runs through July 18 on 3 East of John Marshall's State Street building. Entrance is at 315 S. Plymouth Ct.