BrownBoard

BROWN V. BOARD OF EDUCATION BASIC FACTS OF THE CASES (more than one) //Slavery was never legally established in Kansas, and racial separation there was less rigid than in the Deep South. School segregation was permitted by local option, and only in elementary schools. In 1950 the state capital, Topeka, operated four elementary schools for black children. African American parents and local activists from the NAACP decided to challenge Topeka’s policy of segregated schooling. They filed their case in U.S. District Court in 1951. Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas was the name given to the collection of cases that ended segregation in public schools. //

MAIN ARGUMENTS OF THE PLAINTIFF (for integration) //Lawyers for the plaintiffs relied on legal arguments, historical evidence, and psychological studies:// //In Plessy v. Ferguson, the Supreme Court had misinterpreted the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Equal protection of the laws did not allow for racial segregation.// ·  //The Fourteenth Amendment allowed the government to prohibit any discriminatory state action based on race, including segregation in public schools. // ·  //The Fourteenth Amendment did not specify whether the states would be allowed to establish segregated education. // ·  //Psychological testing demonstrated the harmful effects of segregation on the minds of African American children. // MAIN ARGUMENTS OF THE DEFENDANTS (for segregation) // The case for the defenders of segregation rested on four arguments: // · // The Constitution did not require white and African American children to attend the same schools. // · // Social separation of blacks and whites was a regional custom; the states should be left free to regulate their own social affairs. // · // Segregation was not harmful to black people. // <span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">· // Whites were making a good faith effort to equalize the two educational systems. But because black children were still living with the effects of slavery, it would take some time before they were able to compete with white children in the same classroom. // <span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; msobidifontfamily: Arial; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; msobidifontweight: bold;">THE CHANGE IN THE COURT (leading to a decision) //The Supreme Court agreed to hear Brown v. Board of Education in June 1952. The case was difficult from the start. The nine justices were divided by differing social philosophies and temperaments. Chief Justice Fred Vinson and several others doubted the constitutional authority of the Court to end school segregation. The justices worried that a decision to integrate schools might be unenforceable. Then, in September 1953, Chief Justice Vinson died. President Dwight Eisenhower appointed Earl Warren as chief justice. This action changed American history forever; Warren’s leadership led to a unanimous decision to overturn Plessy .//

<span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">THE COURT DECISION (in your own words) //Chief Justice// // Earl Warren wrote the decision for the Court. Warren agreed with the civil rights attorneys that it was unclear whether the framers of the Fourteenth Amendment intended to allow segregated public education. But Warren also noted that the “separate but equal” policy did not appear until 1896, and it referred to transportation, not education. Warren also believed that the education was one of the most critical functions of state and local governments; racial segregation of any kind deprived African Americans of equal their protection from Fourteenth Amendment and due process under the Fifth Amendment. Justice Warren decided that “Segregation of white and colored children in public schools has a detrimental effect upon the colored children. The impact is greater when it has the sanction of the law, for the policy of separating the races is usually interpreted as denoting the inferiority of the Negro group...Any language in contrary to this finding is rejected. We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.” In other words, segregation had a negative effect on African American students and was a way of making African Americans feel inferior. The court stated that “Any language in contrary to this finding is rejected;” in other words, this was their final decision and it could not be changed. The court also decided that the “separate but equal” policy was not appropriate in public schools, especially because the separate facilities were not equal at all. // <span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; msobidifontfamily: Arial; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; msobidifontweight: bold;">ENFORCING THE DECISION (discuss "with all deliberate speed) //The// <span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; msobidifontfamily: Arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; msobidifontstyle: italic;">Brown v. Board //ruling declared the system of legal segregation unconstitutional. But the Supreme Court did not enforce this decision as firmly as it could have. In fact, the court asked only that the states should end segregation with “all deliberate speed.” This vagueness about how to enforce the decision gave segregationists an opportunity to organize resistance. While many whites welcomed the// <span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; msobidifontfamily: Arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; msobidifontstyle: italic;">Brown //decision, many considered it an attack on their way of life. Segregationists used the fears and prejudices of their communities to launch an aggressive campaign of defiance and resistance.//

<span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; msobidifontfamily: Arial; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; msobidifontweight: bold;">THE IMPACT and LEGACY //In the mid-1950s, Americans were deeply divided over the issue of racial equality. When African Americans pushed to have the// Brown //decision enforced, many people were unprepared for the amount of resistance from white southerners. At the same time, defenders of the “southern way of life” underestimated the determination of African Americans. The struggle for equality for African Americans soon spread across the country. The original battle for school desegregation became part of a much broader campaign for social justice. Today, over fifty years after the// <span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; msobidifontfamily: Arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; msobidifontstyle: italic;">Brown //decision, the civil rights movement has come to include racial and ethnic minorities, women, people with disabilities, and other groups, each demanding equal opportunity.// <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; msobidifontfamily: Arial; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; msobidifontweight: bold;">