Fifty years after the Brown v. Board of Education ruling, University students are reflecting on how the Supreme Court's decision impacts their present-day lives.
To commemorate the landmark desegregation case's 50-year anniversary, the Black Student Alliance and the Office of African-American Affairs sponsored a performance of Marcia Cebulska's play "Now Let Me Fly" Saturday evening.
The play depicts Thurgood Marshall's role in taking the Brown case to the Supreme Court in 1954 and the efforts and sentiments of the nation's black community at the time.
"The movement was also started by everyday people," said Isaac Agbeshie-Noye, a third-year Engineering student and cast member. "The play helps to tell the stories of those everyday people."
Agbeshie-Noye said the play was intended to commemorate and educate.
After the dramatic presentation, members of the audience and cast reflected on the history and the present-day effects of the Brown decision.
Many said that the Brown decision is the reason that they are at the University.
"Brown for me is like air," said Lynn Blaney, a third-year College student and cast member. "I'm trying to advance myself, and I wouldn't be here without Brown."
Audience and cast members also considered their current responsibilities to carry on the legacy of the Brown decision, the work of leaders such as Marshall and advancing the goals of the NAACP.
Dean of African-American Affairs M. Rick Turner encouraged students to become more knowledgeable about their past and decisions like Brown in order to take a more active role in the ongoing movement toward equality.
"You have to find out about what happened to you and how you are going to articulate it," Turner said to the audience. "You cannot leave the University of Virginia naked about your history."
Some student audience members commented on the discouragement that comes with responsibility to the black community.
Turner, however, urged students to consider the hardships endured by earlier generations.
"You don't have a right to be discouraged yet," Turner responded. "Thurgood Marshall and those who died had a right to be discouraged."
Presentations like Saturday's can help students put past struggles in perspective relative to their involvement now, Agbeshie-Noye said.
"It helps students to visualize exactly the type of commitment a lot of people put forth and how important this issue was for people our age back then," he added.
The play has been performed nationally in celebration of the Brown anniversary and was performed in Charlottesville over the summer when many students did not have a chance to see it. The BSA and the Office of African-American Affairs sponsored Saturday's performance in part to give students an additional opportunity to see the play, Agbeshie-Noye said.
Fourth-year College students Rena Johnson and Lisa Haileab led production of the play and began preparing the cast for the performance four weeks ago.
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