Among other celebrations, Alabama’s bicentennial year of 2019 will see the opening of “Alabama Justice: The Cases and Faces that Changed a Nation,” a touring exhibit created by Auburn University Political Science professor Steven Brown.
Thanks to funding from Alabama Humanities Foundation, Auburn University Intramural Grants Program and a College of Liberal Arts Summer Research Grant, Brown is researching three US Supreme Court Justices appointed from Alabama, and eight landmark cases that arose in the state.
The research will provide information for content featured in a traveling exhibit that will appear in libraries, museums, public buildings and universities throughout the state during the bicentennial year.
Brown said the project is in its initial phase but will feature 35 display panels, five pop-up panels, video monitors and audio components in its final three-dimensional multimedia exhibit form.
Visitors to the exhibit will learn about the cases, the Supreme Court Justices and the constitution. Brown has also spent the summer writing a book, made possible with the help of the College of Liberal Arts Summer Research Grant, that will accompany the exhibit.
“Dr. Brown’s initiative is exactly the kind of project we like to encourage through our summer research competitive grants program,” said Dean of the College of Liberal Arts Joseph Aistrup. “The state-wide educational component of this exhibition aligns with our commitment to outreach and serving the community.”
Brown received his most recent funding from the Alabama Humanities Foundation.
“I was very grateful to learn that I had received this grant,” Brown said. “As critical as every dollar of the funding is, the most important thing to me has been the support of Thomas Bryant, the foundation’s grants director.”
Brown said it was this support from his colleagues and peers throughout the community and state, as well as the Alabama Humanities Grants Director, that put the idea into motion.
“He [Bryant] expressed initial interest in the idea of the exhibit,” Brown said. “He encouraged me to develop the project further… and primarily because of his support for the exhibit, and now with the addition of the AHF grant, the idea of ‘Alabama Justice’ is about to become a reality and it is just very exciting.”
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