Brown+Vs.+Board

**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?**

**Using 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.**

**SETTING THE STAGE** - [|**Participate in The Road to Justice activity**]

**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
 * In 1950 the Topeka NAACP set out to organize a legal challenge to an 1879 State law that permitted racially segregated elementary schools in certain cities.
 * The local NAACP assembled a group of 13 parents who agreed to be plaintiffs on behalf of their 20 children.
 * Following direction from legal counsel they attempted to enroll their children in segregated white schools and all were denied.
 * In February of 1951 the Topeka NAACP filed a case on the behalf of the african americans.
 * it was named for one of the plaintiffs Oliver Brown.

**MAIN ARGUMENTS OF THE PLAINTIFF** **(for integration) (check [|Link 1] )** List the major arguments of the plaintiffs
 * 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) (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.
 * black people weren't ready yet to be compete with the white kids because they are still recovering from slavery.

**THE CHANGE IN THE COURT** **(leading to a decision) (check** [|**Link 1**] **)** What important change happened, and what was its impact?  In September 1953 the chief justice died, and President Dwight Eisenhower appointed Earl Warren as chief justice. His leadership in producing a unanimous decision to integrate schools changed the course of American history. What did the Court decide?
 * THE COURT DECISION** **(in your own words) (check** [|**Link 1**] **and Link 2)**

The court decided that segregation was not constitutional. The supreme court said that schools should integrate "with all deliberate speed", the vagueness of this allowed some resistance to form up and organize.
 * ENFORCING THE DECISION** **(discuss "with all deliberate speed) (Check [|Link 1] )**

**THE IMPACT and LEGACY** **(Check** [|**Link 1**] **)** What is the overall importance and legacy of //Brown v. Board// ?  African Americans pressed to have the Brown decision enforced, and many people were unprepared for the intensity of resistance among white southerners. but the defenders of the “southern way of life” underestimated the determination of their black neighbors. Fifty years after the//Brown// decision, the movement has come to include racial and ethnic minorities, women, people with disabilities, and other groups, each demanding equal opportunity.