Venue

Our Annual Meeting will be held in University of Oklahoma's Bizzell Library, a National Historic Landmark. Designed by architects Layton Hicks & Forsyth, Bizzell opened in 1929; extensive additions were completed in 1958 and 1982.

The library is historically significant for its association with the racial desegregation court case of George McLaurin, a retired black professor who applied to the university to pursue a doctorate in education. 

McLaurin was at first denied admission to the university solely on the basis of race, in accordance with Oklahoma law at the time. After a court ruling, he was admitted, but under the separate but equal doctrine he was given a desk in the mezzanine of this building, rather than being allowed use of the regular reading room. He appealed the segregation up to the Supreme Court, in McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education (1950). In this and three companion cases, the Supreme Court overturned Plessy v. Ferguson. The decisions were precedents for Brown v. Board of Education case in 1954. (Source: Wikipedia)