Brownv.Board

//BROWN V. BOARD OF EDUCATION// There were huge segregation in school with whites and African American. It took place in Topeka, Kansas and the plaintiff were Oliver Brown and 13 other parents from Topeka. It reached the Supreme Court. The Brown vs Board dismantled the legal basis for racial segregation in school and other public facilities. It declared that the discriminatory nature of racial segregation ... "violates the 14th amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees all citizens equal protection of the laws." It was led by McKinley Burrett who was a leader of NAACP. **MAIN ARGUMENTS OF THE PLAINTIFF (for integration) (check [|Link 1])** 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. There were many harmful effects of segregation on African American children. 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. 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. **THE CHANGE IN THE COURT (leading to a decision) (check** [|**Link 1**]**)** The Supreme Court case decided to hear the case in June 1952. Differing social philosophies and temperaments divided the nine justices. Chief Justice Fred Vinson and several others doubted the constitutional authority of the Court to end school segregation. And the justices worried that a decision to integrate schools might be unenforceable. When Chief Justice Vinson died Eisenhower appoints Earl Warren who overturns the court case Plessy. **THE COURT DECISION (in your own words) (check** [|**Link1**] **and Link 2)** Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote that he agreed with the civil rights attorneys that it was not clear whether the framers of the Fourteenth Amendment intended to permit segregated public education. Education was perhaps the most vital function of state and local governments, and racial segregation of any kind deprived African Americans of equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment and due process under the Fifth Amendment. Quote: "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." -- Earl Warren, Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court **ENFORCING THE DECISION (discuss "with all deliberate speed) (Check [|Link 1] ****)**   The //Brown// decision declared the system of legal segregation unconstitutional. But the Court ordered only that the states end segregation with “all deliberate speed.” This vagueness about how to enforce the ruling gave segregationists the opportunity to organize resistance. Although many whites welcomed the //Brown// decision, a large number considered it an assault on their way of life. Segregationists played on the fears and prejudices of their communities and launched a militant campaign of defiance and resistance. African American pressed that the Brown descision enforced and many people were unprepared for the intensity of resistance among white southerners.The African Americans soon began struggling for their freedom.
 * What would break the back of Jim Crow America? What role did education play in the movement to desegregate America? **
 * BASIC FACTS OF THE CASES (more than one) (check video, [|Link 1], [|Link 2], [|Link 3])**
 * MAIN ARGUMENTS OF THE DEFENDANTS (for segregation) (check [|Link 1])**
 * The Impact and Legacy (Check** [|**Link 1**]**)**



Showing that they are slowly making schools not segregated