Brown+v.+Board+of+Education

// BROWN V. BOARD OF EDUCATION // ** SETTING THE STAGE ** - **[|Participate in The Road to Justice activity]**
 * What would break the back of Jim Crow America? What role did education play in the movement to desgregate America? **

Make a bulleted list of the basic facts of the cases brought to the Supreme Court
 * 1. BASIC FACTS OF THE CASES (more than one) (check video, [|Link 1], [|Link 2], [|Link 3])**
 * Segregated elementary schools have a negative psychological affect on African American Children.
 * Oliver Brown and 13 other parents from Topeka were the Plaintiffs.
 * In Kansas Brown v. Board of Education would be the 12th case filed that tried to end segregation in Public Schools.
 * The three judge federal court ruled against the Plantiff.
 * The appeal reached the Supreme Court.
 *  The Plantiff named the case Oliver Brown as a legal strategy to have a man lead plaintiff roster.
 * The supreme court joined five similar cases under the heading Brown v . Board of Education
 * The Plantiffs won the in the Supreme Court with the Court declaring that segregation was a violation of the 14th amendment which ,"guarantees all citizens equal protection of the law."

List the major arguments of the plaintiffs:
 * 2. MAIN ARGUMENTS OF THE PLAINTIFF (for integration) (check [|Link 1])**
 * In the Plessy vs. Fergeson case, the Supreme court misenterpereted the 14th amendment. The equal protection clause does not allow for segregation-seperate and unequal conditions is most definitely not equality.
 * In the Fourteenth amendment, the government is allowed to prohibit any discriminatory actions of the state that are based on race. This includes the segregation of public schools.
 * The Fourteenth amendment does not say if the states are allowed to establish segregated education- it does not specify.
 * Segregation has harmful affedts on the minds of African American childre, as proven through psycological testing.

List the major arguments of the Defendants:
 * 3. MAIN ARGUMENTS OF THE DEFENDANTS (for segregation) (check [|Link 1])**
 * The Constitution does not say that blacks and whites are required to go to school together.
 * Social seperation of whites and blacks is a regional issue; the states should regulate their own affairs regarding this topic.
 * Segregation does not harm black people.
 * Whites were trying to equalize the educational systems, but blacks could not compete with whites in the classroom (as of then) because they were living with the effects of slavery.

What important change happened, and what was its impact? In September 1953 Chief Justice Vinson died. As a result, President Dwight Eisenhower appointed Earl Warren as chief justice. This essential change eventually led to the unanimous decision to overturn the Plessy case. Before Warren was appointed, Vinison and others doubted that the Supreme Court had the authority to end Public School Segregation and other's argued that it would not work either way because the Schools wouldn't listen.
 * 4. THE CHANGE IN THE COURT (leading to a decision) (check** [|**Link 1**]**)**

What did the Court decide?
 * 5. THE COURT DECISION (in your own words) (check** [|**Link 1**] **and Link 2)**

The Court agreed with the civil rights attourneys, saying it was not clear whether or not the framers of the 14th amendment were intending that educational segregation was to be permitted. He also says that the seperate but equal doctrine is referring to transportatin, not education. They also ruled that education was crucial for the success of our government, and racial segregation of any kind deprived African Americans of equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment and due process under the Fifth Amendment.

** 6. ENFORCING THE DECISION (discuss "with all deliberate speed) (Check [|Link 1] ** **)** What was the Court's statement about the enforcement of the decision? What happened to the enforcement? The court ordered that states end segregation "with all deliberate speed." The enforcement of the descision was vague- allowing for segregationists to reorganize. Segregationists defied and resisted the court descision.  ** 7.THE IMPACT and LEGACY ** **(Check** [|**Link 1**]**)** What is the overall importance and legacy of //Brown v. Board//?  Brown V. Board opens the door to end segregation and serves as the origins of the civil rights movement. The Blacks worked to have the Brown decision enforced. However, the opposition from many of the Whites, in particular White Southerners, was fiercer than expected. At the same time, White Southerners underestimated the determination of the Blacks. The Black's struggle for equality started to spread in the U.S. The Brown case of desegregating schools influenced other fights for racial equality in other areas. Eventually, the Brown decision has led to the movement of other racial/ethinic groups, women, people with disabilities, and so on; all of the groups fighting for equality.