Study Tour 2011 African Americans in the South

A.W. Shuck's

On Sunday September 25, after having had a wonderful lunch at Val and Dan Littlefield's house, we left Columbia and drove down to Charleston. The drive was only disturbed by some heavy rain showers and thunderstorms, but after a few hours we were very happy to see the sign welcoming us to Charleston. In the evening we all went out to get dinner at A.W. Shuck's, which is a very nice place to get sea food and have a good time.

On Monday morning we encountered some real history. The Honorable Richard M. Gergel, a district judge in Charleston, welcomed us in courtroom III in the U.S. District Court of South Carolina. This appointment was actually not planned but was more a spontanious opportunity. Our group received a personal invitation by Mr. Gergel whom we met at the breakfast we were invited to by Valinda Littlefield on Saturday in Columbia. Following his generous invitation I was very excited to see courtroom III, the historic room where in 1951 judge Waring decided on a case referred to as Briggs vs. Elliott. This was one out of five cases which later became known as Brown vs. Board of Education (1954). It was quite impressive to sit in the same room in which Julius Waties Waring felt the historically significant decision that segregated educational facilities were unequal. At the same pult that Mr. Gergel stood that morning to talk to us, sixty years ago Thurgood Marshall stood and argued on behalf of the NAACP in this case.

A picture of Judge Gergel and our studytour group.

Gerge explained us some more details about this case, about its legal dimension and also about Waring's position within it. I really appreciated the opportunity to see the room and hear more details about it, especially from a historical and more legal perspective. Mr. Gergel gave us a very interesting insight into a part of South Carolina's history and at the same time into SC's important role in the fight against inequality and racial discrimination in schools.



- Ewa