Brown v. Board of Education: The case that came to be known as Brown v. Board of Education was actually the name given to five separate cases that were heard by the U.S. Supreme Court concerning the issue of segregation in public schools. These cases were Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Briggs v. Elliot, Davis v. Board of Education of Prince Edward County (VA.), Boiling v. Sharpe, and Gebhart v. Ethel. While the facts of each case are different, the main issue in each was the constitutionality of state-sponsored segregation in public schools. Once again, Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund handled these cases. When the cases came before the Supreme Court in 1952, the Court consolidated all five cases under the name of Brown v. Board of Education. Marshall personally argued the case before the Court. Although he raised a variety of legal issues on appeal, the most common one was that separate school systems for blacks and whites were inherently unequal, and thus violate the "equal protection clause" of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Furthermore, relying on sociological tests, such as the one performed by social scientist Kenneth Clark, and other data, he also argued that segregated school systems had a tendency to make black children feel inferior to white children, and thus such a system should not be legally permissible.
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Brown v. Board Video:
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After the case was reheard in 1953, Chief Justice Warren was able to do something that his predecessor had not—i.e. bring all of the Justices to agree to support a unanimous decision declaring segregation in public schools unconstitutional. On May 14, 1954, he delivered the opinion of the Court, stating that "We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal. . ."
Expecting opposition to its ruling, especially in the southern states, the Supreme Court did not immediately try to give direction for the implementation of its ruling. Rather, it asked the attorney generals of all states with laws permitting segregation in their public schools to submit plans for how to proceed with desegregation. After still more hearings before the Court concerning the matter of desegregation, on May 31, 1955, the Justices handed down a plan for how it was to proceed; desegregation was to proceed with "all deliberate speed." Although it would be many years before all segregated school systems were to be desegregated, Brown and Brown II (as the Courts plan for how to desegregate schools came to be called) were responsible for getting the process underway.
Expecting opposition to its ruling, especially in the southern states, the Supreme Court did not immediately try to give direction for the implementation of its ruling. Rather, it asked the attorney generals of all states with laws permitting segregation in their public schools to submit plans for how to proceed with desegregation. After still more hearings before the Court concerning the matter of desegregation, on May 31, 1955, the Justices handed down a plan for how it was to proceed; desegregation was to proceed with "all deliberate speed." Although it would be many years before all segregated school systems were to be desegregated, Brown and Brown II (as the Courts plan for how to desegregate schools came to be called) were responsible for getting the process underway.
Excerpt from Thurgood Marshall's argument.
IT FOLLOWS THAT with education, this Court has made segregation and inequality equivalent concepts. They have equal rating, equal footing, and if segregation thus necessarily imports inequality, it makes no great difference whether we say that the Negro is wronged because he is segregated, or that he is wronged because he received unequal treatment... I would like to say that each lawyer on the other side has made it clear as to what the position of the state was on this, and it would be all right possibly but for the fact that this is so crucial. There is no way you can repay lost school years. These children in these cases are guaranteed by the states some twelve years of education in varying degrees, and this idea, if I understand it, to leave it to the states until they work it out-and I think that is a most ingenious argument- you leave it to the states, they say, and then they say that the states haven't done anything about it in a hundred years, so for that reason this Court doesn't touch it. |
The Little Rock Nine: Three years after the Supreme Court overturned its doctrine of “separate but equal,” Central High School in Little Rock became one of the first practical tests of the principles enshrined in Brown v. Board of Education. Nine black students showed up for the first day of class, only to be turned away by the Arkansas National Guard, operating under Governor Orval Faubus’s orders to “preserve the peace.” Over the next weeks, a constitutional crisis unfurled: Could a governor defy the federal courts? Eventually, under pressure from President Eisenhower, Faubus backed down, the newly federalized National Guard was withdrawn, and the students again tried to attend Central High on September 23. "The niggers won't get in," said the angry mob—and the "Little Rock Nine" were forced to leave school at noon. It was only on September 25, under the protection of federal troops, that these children were able to complete a full day of classes, thus becoming standard bearers for a civil-rights movement that would change the nation.
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Citations:
1. Gordon, Noah. "The Little Rock Nine: How Far Has the Country Come?." The Atlantic. http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/09/the-little-rock-nine/380676/ (accessed October 10, 2014).
2. “Integration of Central High School,” The History Channel website, http://www.history.com/photos/central-high-school-integration (accessed Oct 10, 2014).
3. The Baltimore Sun. "Thurgood Marshall, George E.C. Hayes and James M. Nabrit." baltimoresun.com. http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/education/bal-bvb-courtphoto,0,915552.photo (accessed October 10, 2014).
4. "The Seventh Sense." 'The Seventh Sense'. http://ken_ashford.typepad.com/blog/2007/09/little-rock----.html (accessed October 10, 2014).
5. "(1953) Thurgood Marshall, "Argument Before the U.S. Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education" | The Black Past: Remembered and Reclaimed." (1953) Thurgood Marshall, "Argument Before the U.S. Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education" | The Black Past: Remembered and Reclaimed. http://www.blackpast.org/1953-thurgood-marshall-argument-u-s-supreme-court-brown-v-board-education (accessed October 8, 2014).
6.United States Courts. "History of Brown v. Board of Education." USCOURTSGOV RSS. http://www.uscourts.gov/educational-resources/get-involved/federal-court-activities/brown-board-education-re-enactment/history.aspx (accessed October 8, 2014).
7.University, Marquette . "Little Rock Nine | Marquette University." Little Rock Nine | Marquette University. http://www.marquette.edu/littlerocknine/ (accessed October 10, 2014).
8. National Constitution Center. "National Constitution Center - Centuries of Citizenship - Chief Justice Earl Warren puts his mark on the Court and the country." National Constitution Center - Centuries of Citizenship - Chief Justice Earl Warren puts his mark on the Court and the country. http://constitutioncenter.org/timeline/html/cw11_12268.html (accessed October 10, 2014).
9. YouTube. "Brown v. Board of Education in PBS' The Supreme Court." YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTGHLdr-iak (accessed October 10, 2014).
1. Gordon, Noah. "The Little Rock Nine: How Far Has the Country Come?." The Atlantic. http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/09/the-little-rock-nine/380676/ (accessed October 10, 2014).
2. “Integration of Central High School,” The History Channel website, http://www.history.com/photos/central-high-school-integration (accessed Oct 10, 2014).
3. The Baltimore Sun. "Thurgood Marshall, George E.C. Hayes and James M. Nabrit." baltimoresun.com. http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/education/bal-bvb-courtphoto,0,915552.photo (accessed October 10, 2014).
4. "The Seventh Sense." 'The Seventh Sense'. http://ken_ashford.typepad.com/blog/2007/09/little-rock----.html (accessed October 10, 2014).
5. "(1953) Thurgood Marshall, "Argument Before the U.S. Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education" | The Black Past: Remembered and Reclaimed." (1953) Thurgood Marshall, "Argument Before the U.S. Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education" | The Black Past: Remembered and Reclaimed. http://www.blackpast.org/1953-thurgood-marshall-argument-u-s-supreme-court-brown-v-board-education (accessed October 8, 2014).
6.United States Courts. "History of Brown v. Board of Education." USCOURTSGOV RSS. http://www.uscourts.gov/educational-resources/get-involved/federal-court-activities/brown-board-education-re-enactment/history.aspx (accessed October 8, 2014).
7.University, Marquette . "Little Rock Nine | Marquette University." Little Rock Nine | Marquette University. http://www.marquette.edu/littlerocknine/ (accessed October 10, 2014).
8. National Constitution Center. "National Constitution Center - Centuries of Citizenship - Chief Justice Earl Warren puts his mark on the Court and the country." National Constitution Center - Centuries of Citizenship - Chief Justice Earl Warren puts his mark on the Court and the country. http://constitutioncenter.org/timeline/html/cw11_12268.html (accessed October 10, 2014).
9. YouTube. "Brown v. Board of Education in PBS' The Supreme Court." YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTGHLdr-iak (accessed October 10, 2014).