Brown v. Board of Education The Untold Story

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Brown v. Board of EducationThe Untold Story

• Nicole Russell

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Plessy V. Ferguson

• In 1890 a new law in Louisiana required railroads
  to provide equal but separate accommodations for
  the white, and colored, races.
• Outraged the black community decided to test the
  law.
• On June 7, 1892 Homer Plessy was jailed for
  sitting in the White car of the East Louisiana
  Railroad. Plessy was one-eighths black
  seven-eighths white, but according to Louisiana
  law he was black.

Homer Plessy
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Plessy v. Ferguson cont.

• Plessy went to court arguing that the Separate
  Car Act violated the thirteenth and fourteenth
  amendments.
• Unfortunately, the judge found that Louisiana had
  the right to regulate railroad companies that
  operated exclusively in Louisiana, and found
  Plessy guilty of refusing to leave the White car.

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Plessy v. Ferguson cont.

• Plessy appealed to the Supreme Court of
  Louisiana, which upheld the original decision.
• In 1896 the Supreme Court of the United States
  heard Plessys case and found him guilty once
  again. This decision established the separate,
  but equal doctrine.

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Separate But Equal

• Justice Henry Brown wrote that the intention of
  the fourteenth amendment was not to abolish
  racial distinctions. Nor to establish social
  equality, but merely to establish political
  equality. Laws permitting and even requiring
  separation of races do not imply inferiority.
• The separate but equal doctrine strengthened
  segregation practices in schools and throughout
  public life.

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(No Transcript)
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The Road to Brown v. Board of Education

• As early as 1849, African Americans had sought
  judicial relief from segregation throughout
  public education.
• In the 1930s, under the leadership of Charles
  Hamilton Houston, the NAACP, begin to attack the
  separate but equal doctrine. Houston
  strategically focused his attacks on the realm of
  public education, because he felt like the
  detrimental effects of racial segregation were
  most readily apparent in this area of public
  life.
• Initially, the NAACP focused their efforts on
  forcing states to live up to the equal portion
  of the separate but equal doctrine.
• Through a series of court victories the NAACP
  successfully strengthened the equal component
  of separate but equal. States would have to
  make sure that their separate educational
  programs were truly equal in terms of resources,
  reputations, and other measurements.

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The Road to Brown v. Board of Education cont.

• In 1948, 52 year old U.S. army veteran, McKinley
  Burnett, became the head of the Topeka chapter of
  the NAACP.
• The Topeka chapter was small, but amongst its
  members were a group of well-educated
  professionals with ties to a prominent
  psychiatric clinic.
• For the next two years Burnett, attended every
  single school boarding meeting. In fact, Burnett
  saved all his vacation/leave time in order to
  attend the board meetings, because they were held
  during his work hours.
• Burnett, wanted to get on the public comment
  section of the agenda, in order to discuss the
  integration of public elementary schools in
  Topeka (upper grades were already integrated.)

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The Road to Brown v. Board of Education cont.

• Since, the board refused to acknowledge,
  Burnetts continued requests, he decided it was
  time to forge ahead and seek legal remedies.
• Burnett joined forces with the Scott family law
  firm, a local law firm with a well established,
  history of litigating discrimination cases within
  the state of Kansas.
• After consulting with the national chapter of the
  NAACP, the Topeka chapter decided to file a class
  action law suit.

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The Road to Brown v. Board of Education cont.

• The Topeka chapter, spent the summer of 1950
  recruiting potential litigants.
• In the fall of 1950 prior to the start of the
  school year, they had successfully recruited 13
  families (a total of 20 children.)
• The families were instructed to take their
  child/children and a witness to the white school
  nearest their homes, and attempt to register
  their child/children, and then report on what had
  occurred.

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The Road to Brown v. Board of Education cont.

• After all the potential litigants had been denied
  admittance, the legal team set to work.
• It was a strategic decision to place Oliver
  Browns name at the head of the roster. The
  legal team thought that a male headed household
  would be better received by the supreme court.
• In February of 1951, the legal team filed the
  case which we know as Oliver L. Brown, et al. v
  the Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas.

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Brown v. Board of Education

• In 1951, Eight year old Linda Brown, like many of
  the children involved in the case, lived in an
  integrated neighborhood.
• I had all of these playmates of different
  nationalities. And so when I found out that day
  that I might be able to go to their school, I was
  just thrilled, you know.

Linda Brown in her segregated classroom 1953
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Brown v. Board of Education cont.

• Initially, the court was charged with determining
  whether or not the state of Kansas had provided
  separate and equal education for the students in
  its charge.
• As the case evolved the issue before the court
  became, whether segregation stigmatized children
  and wounded them in a psychological way ... and
  made state-sponsored segregation something that
  was constitutionally unsupportable.

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Brown v. Board of Education cont

• On August 3rd of 1951, the U.S. District Court in
  Kansas rendered their decision to uphold the
  right of the Topeka school board to maintain
  segregated schools. They decided that the
  schools were both separate and equal.
• The three judge district panel, did acknowledge
  the validity of the arguments presented regarding
  the psychological impact of state sponsored
  segregation, but they could not make a ruling
  that contradicted the Supreme Courts decision in
  Plessy vs. Ferguson.
• Brown et. al was consolidated with four different
  cases from other states, that were on the supreme
  courts docket and dealt with the same underlying
  issues.

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The Courts Decision

• Quoting Judge Huxman from the district court of
  Kansas Segregation
• of white and colored children in public schools
  has a detrimental effect
• upon the colored children. The impact is greater
  when it has the
• sanction of the law for the policy of separating
  the races is usually
• interpreted as denoting the inferiority of the
  Negro group. A sense of
• inferiority affects the motivation of a child to
  learn. Segregation with
• the sanction of law, therefore, has a tendency to
  retard the education
• and mental development of Negro children and to
  deprive them of
• some of the benefits they would receive in a
  racially integrated school
• system.
• Whatever may have been the extent of
  psychological knowledge at the
• time of Plessy v Ferguson, this finding is amply
  supported by modern
• authority. Any language in Plessy v Ferguson
  contrary to this finding is
• rejected. We conclude, unanimously, that in the
  field of public
• education, the doctrine of "separate but equal"
  has no place. Separate
• educational facilities are inherently unequal.
• http//www.history.com/media.do?actionclipidcd3
  track31

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The Legacy of Brown v. Board of Education

• Was an impetus for much needed conversations on
  racism, segregation, equality, and much more.
• Fueled the movement for Civil Rights.
• Brown v. Board of education doesnt specifically
  address Ell's, but it did set the precedent for
  equality in education, as a priority for all
  learners. This precedent has been used to
  address issues concerning English language
  learners.

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References

• Ask an Expert NCELA Frequently Asked Questions.
  Department of Education United States of America.
  Septermber 25, 2006. lthttp//www.ncela.gwu.edu/exp
  ert/faq/07court.htmlgt
• Black White and Brown Transcript Brown versus
  the Board of Education of Topeka. Originally
  aired May 3, 2004.
• Brown v. Board of Education Myths and Truths.
  Brown Foundation for Educational Equity,
  Excellence and Research. April 11, 2004.
  lthttp//brownvboard.org/mythsandtruths/ gt
• Exploring Constitutional Conflicts. Separate but
  Equal? The Road to Brown. July 17, 2007.
  lthttp//www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/
  conlaw/sepbutequal.htmgt
• Separate is Not Equal Brown v. Board of
  Education. Smithsonian National Museum of
  American Behring Center. July 17, 2007.
  lthttp//americanhistory.si.edu/Brown/history/1-seg
  regated/detail/plessy-v-ferguson.htmlgt