Fellows study effects of major civil rights ruling (AP)

WASHINGTON – A law professor studying attorneys who argued against civil rights cases and a New York Times reporter who is researching first lady Michelle Obama's family roots are among winners of a fellowship created to mark the Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education decision.

The fellowship provides $50,000 to scholars, writers and artists who deal with the implications and effects of the landmark 1954 ruling that declared that separate public schools for blacks and whites were unconstitutional.

Wall Street financier and philanthropist Alphonse Fletcher Jr. created the fellowship in 2004 to mark the 50th anniversary of that decision.

Among this year's winners are Rachel Swarns of The New York Times and Vanderbilt law professor Daniel Sharfstein.

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