In This Article
30-Second Summary
Headline Links: Brown litigation and the end of segregation in American schools
Historical Context: A divided country
Later Developments: Resistance to the decision, Linda Brown’s school becomes a historic site
Opinion and Analysis: Did the case have lasting impact?
Key Players: Thurgood Marshall, Charles Hamilton Houston
Related Topic: Rehnquist originally supported ‘separate but equal’ doctrine
Reference: Local news coverage of the case, resources for teachers
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George E.C. Hayes, left, Thurgood Marshall, center, and James M. Nabrit pose outside
the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., May 17, 1954 (AP).
the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., May 17, 1954 (AP).
On this Day: Supreme Court Ends School Segregation
May 17, 2008 12:10 AM
by
findingDulcinea Staff
On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education, declaring that racially segregated public schools were inherently unequal.
Email This30-Second Summary
Overturning nearly 60 years of state-sanctioned educational segregation, the unanimous Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka overruled the Court’s 1896 decision in Plessey v. Ferguson, which held that government-controlled institutions could be “separate but equal.”
The suit’s named plaintiff was Linda Brown, a seven-year-old from Topeka, Kansas. To reach the nearest school designated for African-American students, she had to walk 21 blocks, then take a mile-long bus ride. After learning that a “whites-only” school was located just seven blocks from their home, Brown’s father protested.
Joined by several other families, Brown filed suit against the local school board. The federal district court ruled against the Browns, and the family’s appeal to the Supreme Court was combined with similar cases filed in four different states with more than 200 plaintiffs.
NAACP chief counsel Thurgood Marshall, who later became a Supreme Court Justice himself, argued the case for the plaintiffs.
Contrary to popular belief, the Brown plaintiffs did not argue that the black students’ separate facilities were inferior, though some of the individual cases did involve that charge. Instead, Marshall called child psychologists and other experts to show that dividing children by race was “inherently unequal.”
The ruling strengthened the growing civil rights movement, and helped to remove the “separate but equal” doctrine from all facets of public life in America.
The suit’s named plaintiff was Linda Brown, a seven-year-old from Topeka, Kansas. To reach the nearest school designated for African-American students, she had to walk 21 blocks, then take a mile-long bus ride. After learning that a “whites-only” school was located just seven blocks from their home, Brown’s father protested.
Joined by several other families, Brown filed suit against the local school board. The federal district court ruled against the Browns, and the family’s appeal to the Supreme Court was combined with similar cases filed in four different states with more than 200 plaintiffs.
NAACP chief counsel Thurgood Marshall, who later became a Supreme Court Justice himself, argued the case for the plaintiffs.
Contrary to popular belief, the Brown plaintiffs did not argue that the black students’ separate facilities were inferior, though some of the individual cases did involve that charge. Instead, Marshall called child psychologists and other experts to show that dividing children by race was “inherently unequal.”
The ruling strengthened the growing civil rights movement, and helped to remove the “separate but equal” doctrine from all facets of public life in America.
Headline Links: Brown litigation and the end of segregation in American schools
The National Center for Public Policy Research offers a short summary of the Supreme Court’s decision, in which the Court reasoned that, despite its own precedent-setting ruling of Plessey vs. Ferguson in 1896, segregation should be freshly analyzed with a contemporary point of view.
Source: The National Center
The Brown case, which celebrates its 54th anniversary today, was not actually the first case challenging segregation in schools. Ultimately decided in a unanimous 9-0 ruling under Chief Justice Earl Warren, Brown was the third such case brought in Topeka.
Source: National Public Radio
Historical Context: A divided country
After the ruling, a cover story in Time magazine captured the divisive environment Marshall and the NAACP faced when bringing Brown to the Supreme Court.
Source: Time
Plessey v. Ferguson had upheld the use of separate train cars for white and nonwhite passengers. In 1892, Homer Plessy was arrested on an East Louisiana Railway train for refusing to move to the car designated for “colored passengers.” He ultimately lost the case as the Supreme Court ruled to allow “separate but equal” segregation.
Source: History Matters
Later Developments: Resistance to the decision, Linda Brown’s school becomes a historic site
Accepted with relative ease in Topeka, the ruling triggered much greater resistance in other parts of the country, most notably in Little Rock, Ark. In an effort to integrate a high school, President Dwight Eisenhower was forced to order the National Guard, supported by a 100 paratroopers, to protect the nine African-American students who were trying to attend school in 1957.
Source: The Eisenhower Archives
The Monroe Elementary School in Topeka, Kansas, where Linda Brown attended school after her long walk, has since been turned into a national historic site, celebrating the Brown v. Board of Education ruling.
Source: National Park Service
Opinion and Analysis: Did the case have lasting impact?
On the 50th anniversary of the ruling, CBS News looked back to see if Brown v Board of Education truly had any lasting effect.
Source: CBS News
Key Players: Thurgood Marshall, Charles Hamilton Houston
Thurgood Marshall
Marshall would go to become the first African-American Supreme Court Justice, nominated by President Lyndon Johnson in 1967. Hailed as the architect of the litigation strategy that brought legalized segregation to an end in the American education system, Marshall served on the Court until 1991, and died two years later.
Source: The New York Times
Charles Hamilton Houston
Although Thurgood Marshall is often cited as the motivation behind the Brown case, Charles Hamilton Houston actually pioneered the idea of taking on segregation through the nation’s courts. Working with the NAACP as early as 1934, Houston suggested the organization should take on “separate but equal” through the education system. Houston passed away two years before Brown reached the Supreme Court.
Source: National Geographic
Related Topic: Rehnquist originally supported ‘separate but equal’ doctrine
William Rehnquist, who would later serve on the Supreme Court from 1986 to 2005, was serving as a clerk on the Court during its consideration of the Brown case. Rehnquist wrote a dissenting memo simply titled “A Random Thought on the Segregation Case,” stating that he felt the precedent of “separate but equal” should be upheld. The memo came back to haunt the justice in later years.
Source: The Supreme Court Review
Reference: Local news coverage of the case, resources for teachers
The Topeka Capital Journal provides an interactive map of the events and figures involved in the Brown vs. Board of Education case, though only those who lived in the town. The Supreme Court appeal combined five different lawsuits, spread across four states. The paper also provides images of the local front page from the day of the decision.
Source: The Topeka Capital Journal
For teachers
The Smithsonian Institute hosts a selection of educational resources for teachers to mark the historic Supreme Court decision, including a teacher’s guide to the ruling, lesson plans, links and other resources.
Source: The Smithsonian Institute
“Through My Eyes” is an autobiographical account by Ruby Bridges, for readers age six through young adult, of her experiences as the first black student to attend the formerly all-white William Frantz Public School in New Orleans, Louisiana. Illustrated with many contemporary photographs and containing commentaries by teachers, lawyers and others involved in the events, the book recounts Bridges’ experiences as a first grader, beginning with her arrival at school on November 14, 1960, protected by federal marshals and surrounded by hostile crowds.
Source: Dulcinea Media Store
© 2008 Dulcinea Media, Inc.
