About the
Bricks Before Brown
It was created by me, Marisela Martinez-Cola, a proud Chicana scholar who teaches sociology at Morehouse. I conduct research related to race, finding meaningful connections between Black, Latiné, Asian American, and Indigenous communities.
This project began as pages in my dissertation. I created a map to show where over 100 pre-1954 school desegregation cases were filed across the country. I had the idea that it would be great to make an interactive map of all the cases that could be used by teachers. I loved the idea of young Black, Latiné, Asian American, and Indigenous children looking up cases filed by people who looked like them.
This project is not something that is necessarily required of my career but a form of public sociology that is not always valued in the academy.
1
Morehouse College, Utah State University, and The National Endowment for the Humanities for supporting me professionally and financially.
2
My undergraduate researcher, Samantha Castro and Carina Linares, for their hard work and dedication in identifying all of the materials related to the cases.
3
The phenomenal creative team behind this project; web designers Simon Sotelo and Kate Kight, graphic designer Alana Robinson, writer Liz Garcia, and Davanh Souvanarath for creating our lesson plans creator.
4
Ryan Knowles, professor at Utah State University who provided excellent guidance and support at the beginning of the project.
5
My son and my husband for believing in the project and encouraging me when I felt like it would never happen.
