Brown+vs.+Board+of+Education

//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 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.** ||=   || There were five different communities of African Americans who turned to the courts to end segregation in schools, and to give their children better educational opportunities. In Topeka, Kansas, Oliver Brown and thirteen other parents took their case all the way to the Supreme Court, in an effort to desegregate the elementary schools in Topeka. Other policies and issues were "struck down" by the Supreme Court; people could not discrimate against, or sterotype against, any person or persons by the ethnicity, religious, physical, or cultural characteristics. In December of 1952, the Supreme Court had five different cases that all challenged the constitionally of racial segregation in public schools; the states that were involved were Kansas, Delaware, South Carolina, Distric of Columbia, and Virginia. The Brown vs. Board of Education case brought educational and social reform, setting the stage for the Civil Right Movement. Lawyers for the plaintiffs relied on legal arguments, historical evidence, and phycological studies: - In Pessy vs. Ferguson, the Supreme Court had misinterpreted the equal protection clause in the Fourteenth Amendment; equal protection of the laws didn't allow for racial segregation - Fourteenth Amendment allowed the government to prohibit any discriminatory state action based on race, including segregation in public schools - Fourteenth Amendment did not specify whether the states could establish segregation in schools - Pychological testing demistrated the harmful effects of discrimination on African Americans **MAIN ARGUMENTS OF THE DEFENDANTS (for segregation) (check [|Link 1])** - The Constitution didn't require balck and white children to attend the same school - Social separation of blacks and whites was a regional custom; the states should be left free to rugulate their own social affairs - Segregation was not harmful to the black people - White were making a good faith effort to equalize the two educational systems; because black children are still living in the effects of slavery, it would take some time for them to compete with a white child in the classroom When the Supreme Court decided to hear the Brown case, there was much trouble. Different prospectives caused widspread arguments between the nine judges. Several of the justices, including Chief Justice, Fred Vinson, doubted the constitutional authority to end segregation in schools, many of them worried it would be unforceable. With the death of Vinson in 1953, President Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed Earl Warren as the new Chief Justice. His descisions to overturn the Pessley descision changed the course of American history. Earl Warren agreed with the civil rights attorneys that it was not clear whether the founders of the Fourteenth Amendment insisted on having segreagation in public schools; and the statement of "seperate but equal" didn't make sense to him because it only portrayed transportation, and not education. In his final statement, he said that education was probably the most important function of state and local governments, and depriving African Americans of equal protection violated to Fourteenth Amendment and due process under the Fifthteenth Amendment. **ENFORCING THE DECISION (discuss "with all deliberate speed") (Check [|Link 1] ****)**
 * BASIC FACTS OF THE CASES (more than one) (check video, [|Link 1], [|Link 2], [|Link 3])**
 * MAIN ARGUMENTS OF THE PLAINTIFF (for integration) (check [|Link 1])**
 * THE CHANGE IN THE COURT (leading to a decision) (check** [|**Link 1**]**)**
 * THE COURT DECISION (in your own words) (check** [|**Link 1**] **and Link 2)**


 * THE IMPACT and LEGACY** **(Check** [|**Link 1**]**)**