Introduction to Professional Writing is a required course for students in the Journalism/Professional Writing and Interactive Multimedia majors at The College of New Jersey. I have taught the class since 1990, and have always had students create communications artifacts for real clients. This semester's project has been to design and assemble materials for a digital archive documenting the multifaceted and extensive ramifications of the Supreme Court's Brown 1954 decision in Brown vs. Board of Education. The students entered the class with varying levels of background about the constellation of issues reflected in the project, as well as varying levels of expertise in technical communications or new media technology and design. It is fair to say that for everyone, there was some aspect of this project that required immersion into a new area of knowledge.

As part of the overall project, students are conducting primary and secondary research that includes not only the assemblage of documents and images, but interviews with subject matter experts on a range of issues, including:

• The use of Brown as a precedent in international law

• The persistence of segregation in American education

• The mixed legacy of desegregation

• The history of desegregation in New Jersey -- and at The College of New Jersey

• The impact of racism and segregation on progressive movements

The students are documenting their work on the individual and group websites listed below.

Note: As of this writing, (November 20, 2003) these sites are works in progress that have not been vetted by ASALH. No endorsement of the contents of these links is stated or implied.

Student Projects