Bizzell Memorial Library has been named a National Historic Landmark because of its significance in an important desegregation case in the late 1940s.The library was the site of the segregated classes that George McLaurin attended at OU before he won his case in the Supreme Court."The library is very important for many reasons," said Melvena Heisch, deputy state historic preservation officer. "That it is associated with one of the most important desegregation cases gives it special importance."OU is associated with another important civil rights case, which involved Ada Louise Sipuel, she said. The McLaurin case is less well-known than Sipuel's but is the reason behind the library's designation as a national landmark, she said. The National Park Service studies and nominates sites to become National Historic Landmarks and there are about 2,000 in the country. Bizzell is the 19th such landmark named in Oklahoma.The Secretary of the Interior ultimately decides which nominees become official landmarks. Sites are only selected if they are of national significance, Heisch said.Library officials were not surprised that Bizzell received the honor, said Pat Weaver-Meyers, director of information management and delivery at Bizzell.It is important to note the historical significance of the library, she said.A plaque marking the landmark will eventually be presented to the university, Heisch said.This honor will help educate the OU community about the case, said OU Press Secretary Jeff Hickman."It gives our community more insight into our history," he said. "This is one a lot of people don't know about."According to a National Park Service release, McLaurin was a retired professor who sued the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education in 1948 to gain admission to OU in the education doctoral program. The state of Oklahoma had a law which made it illegal for schools to be racially mixed.He gained admission to OU but had to sit in a mezzanine off the Great Reading Room away from the white students. McLaurin sued again, saying the segregation violated his 14th Amendment rights."The enforcement of these regulations places upon him a badge of inferiority which affects his relationship, both to his fellow students, and to his professors," his lawyers wrote in his defense.When a district court said the 14th Amendment did not eliminate distinctions based on race or color and said racial segregation was a "deeply rooted social policy" in Oklahoma, McLaurin appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Supreme Court ruled unanimously in McLaurin's favor, saying he was handicapped in his pursuit of education by segregation.hello there & you too
