Brown+Vs.+the+Board+of+Education

//BROWN V. BOARD OF EDUCATION// **What would break the back of Jim Crow America? What role did education play in the movement to desgregate America?**

**SETTING THE STAGE** - ** [|Participate in The Road to Justice activity] Were you successful? What did your learn in the activity (just think about it ....) **
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 * = **Using the the links provided, analyze the landmark Supreme Court case //Brown v. Board of Education//. Cut and paste the information below into a new entry on your Unit 8 Online Notebook.** ||  ||=   ||

** THE BASIC FACTS OF THE CASES (more than one) (check [|video], [|Link 1] , [|Link 2] , [|Link 3] )** Make a bulleted list of the basic facts of the __cases__ brought to the Supreme Court

Oliver Brown was the father of Linda Brown and was a plaintiff of the case. This man was a Reverend who was only 32 when he filed his case against Sumner Elementary for not allowing his daughter in an all-white school. When he was refused, him and 12 other parents took the case right to the NAACP. The case was named after Brown because he was the only man in those 12 people. One of the cases, Briggs vs. Elliot, was one of the cases that influenced this one. The case was lost because there had been progress made towards the advancement of African-American schools. Even though the case was lost, it set the stage for Brown vs. Board of Education.

** THE MAIN ARGUMENTS OF THE PLAINTIFF (for integration) (check [|Link 1] )** List the major arguments of the plaintiffs
 * 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.

** THE MAIN ARGUMENTS OF THE DEFENDANTS (for segregation) (check [|Link 1] )** List the major arguments of the Defendants


 * 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**] **)** What important change happened in the Supreme Court, and what was its impact?

In September 1953 Vinson died, and President Dwight Eisenhower appointed Earl Warren as chief justice. His leadership in producing a unanimous decision to overturn //Plessy// changed the course of American history.

** THE COURT DECISION (in your own words) (check** [|**Link 1**] **and Link 2)** What did the Supreme Court decide in the landmark decision? The Supreme Court decided that the doctrine of separate, but equal was unconstitutional. The Supreme Court said that,"Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal." Many people were jumping for joy and others were disappointed. Thurgood Marshall stated,"I was so happy, I was numb." On the other side of the law, the governor of Georgia was furious and commented,"The United States Supreme Court reduced the Constitution to a scrap of paper." The decision that the Supreme Court made created rifts between many people.

**ENFORCING THE DECISION (discuss "with all deliberate speed) (Check [|Link 1] ** [|Video] )  What was the Court's statement about the enforcement of the decision? What happened to the enforcement?

The statement of the Court was that,"Separate, but equal" was unconstitutional and said that segregation should end with all deliberate speed. The decision was very vague and not specified, so this gave the white supremacists a chance to block desegregation.

**THE IMPACT and LEGACY** **(Check** [|**Link 1**] **)** What is the overall importance and legacy of //Brown v. Board//?

After some years after the ruling, the case stirred up some other segregation revolutions. In Montgomery, Alabama, the case inspired some other protests and boycotts around the country where segregation was common. Slowly, segregation had declined and so did racism. In other places fights and riots broke out. Federal troops were needed in Little Rock, Louisiana. After 3 years, Little Rock Nine occurred.