Student Historian

Devon McCurdy is pursuing a Ph.D. in history at University of Washington.  He studies American environmental history and the American West.  McCurdy received an M.A. in history from University of Colorado in 2007.  He graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Carleton College with a B.A. in history in 2005.

William T. Coleman Jr. (1920-2017)

William Thaddeus Coleman, Jr., a prominent Republican lawyer and businessman, served as Secretary of Transportation under President Gerald Ford.  Born on July 7, 1920 to a middle class Philadelphia, Pennsylvania family, Coleman attended a segregated elementary school.  When he moved to Germantown High School he … Read MoreWilliam T. Coleman Jr. (1920-2017)

Congress of Racial Equality (1942)

The Congress of Racial Equality pioneered direct nonviolent action in the 1940s before playing a major part in the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s.  Founded by an interracial group of pacifists at the University of Chicago in 1942, CORE used nonviolent tactics … Read MoreCongress of Racial Equality (1942)

Parren James Mitchell (1922-2007)

Parren James Mitchell was a civil rights activist, the first African American elected to Congress from the South since 1898, and a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus.  Born in 1922, Mitchell grew up in Baltimore, Maryland, and attended public schools there.  His father … Read MoreParren James Mitchell (1922-2007)

Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1 (2007)

In June 2007 the United States Supreme Court issued a narrow five to four ruling invalidating racial integration plans in Seattle, Washington and Louisville, Kentucky.  The Court reasoned that the Fourteenth Amendment’s equal protection clause prohibited schools from voluntarily using racial classifications to achieve integration.  … Read MoreParents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1 (2007)