Brown+vs+Board

 of defiance and resistance. //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?**

**SETTING THE STAGE** - **[|Participate in The Road to Justice activity] Were you successful? What did your learn in the activity (just think about it ....) **
 * = **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.** ||  ||=   ||

It took a few times but I was successful. It was insane of how many different obstacles I had to get threw to get to school.

** THE 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

-One case about how one girl had to walk 21 blocks to school even though there was one 7 blocks away. (Oliver Brown vs Board of Education of Topeka Kansas.) -many different people from different states were all suing because of the same reason.

** THE MAIN ARGUMENTS OF THE PLAINTIFF (for integration) (check [|Link 1] )** List the major arguments of the plaintiffs


 * 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.

** THE 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.
 * Whites were making a good faith effort to equalize the two educational systems. But because black children were still living with the effects of slavery, it would take some time before they were able to compete with white children in the same classroom.

** THE CHANGE IN THE COURT (leading to a decision) (check** [|**Link 1**] **)** What important change happened in the Supreme Court, and what was its impact?

Differing social philosophies and temperaments divided the nine justices. Chief Justice Fred Vinson and several others doubted the constitutional authority of the Court to end school segregation. And the justices worried that a decision to integrate schools might be unenforceable. In September 1953 Vinson died, and President Dwight Eisenhower appointed Earl Warren as chief justice. His leadership in producing a unanimous decision to overturn //Plessy// changed the course of American history.

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

Earl Warren agreed with the civil rights attorneys that it was not clear whether the framers of the Fourteenth Amendment intended to permit segregated public education. He also said that the doctrine of 1896 pertained to transportation not schools and education. He also said that the issue was present not the past. He said that education is perhaps the most vital function of state and local governments. Racial segregation of any kind deprived African Americans of equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment and the due process under the Fifth Amendment.

  <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">  <span style="font-family: georgia,serif;"> **ENFORCING THE DECISION (discuss "with all deliberate speed) (Check <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; cursor: pointer; padding-right: 10px;">[|Link 1] ** <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding-right: 10px;">[|Video] )  What was the Court's statement about the enforcement of the decision? What happened to the enforcement?

The Brown decision declared the system of legal segregation unconstitutional. <span style="color: #1d1c14; font-family: georgia,serif; line-height: 18px;">But the Court ordered only that the states end segregation with “all deliberate speed.” This vagueness about how to enforce the ruling gave segregationists the opportunity to organize resistance. Although many whites welcomed the //Brown// decision, a large number considered it an assault on their way of life. Segregationists played on the fears and prejudices of their communities and launched a militant campaign of defiance and resistance.

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<span style="font: normal normal bold 12px/normal georgia,serif; margin-bottom: 3px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Picketers
<span style="color: #1d1c14; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px;"> <span style="font-family: georgia,serif;"> <span style="color: #1d1c14; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px;">Southern congressmen and governors attacked the Supreme Court’s decision. Through state and local governments and private organizations, white supremacists attempted to block desegregation. People across the country, like these from Poolesville, Maryland, in 1956, took to the streets to protest integration. This kind of opposition exposed the deep divide in the nation, and revealed the difficulty of enforcing the high court’s decision.

**THE IMPACT and LEGACY** **(Check** <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; cursor: pointer; padding-right: 10px;">[|**Link 1**] **)** What is the overall importance and legacy of //Brown v. Board//?

<span style="color: #1d1c14; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px;">In the mid-1950s Americans remained deeply divided <span style="color: #1d1c14; font-family: georgia,serif; line-height: 18px;">over the issue of racial equality. African Americans pressed to have the Brown decision enforced, and many the intensity of resistance among white southerners. Likewise, defenders of the “southern way of life” underestimated the determination of their black neighbors. <span style="color: #1d1c14; font-family: georgia,serif; line-height: 18px;">The African American freedom struggle soon spread across the country. The original battle for school desegregation became part of broader campaigns for social justice. 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.

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