Brown+vs.+Board

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=Brown V. Board of Education=

Make a bulleted list of the basic facts of the cases brought to the Supreme Court >Slavery was never legally established in Kansas, and racial separation there was less rigid than in the Deep South. >In 1950 the state capital, Topeka, operated four elementary schools for black children. >African American parents and local activists from the NAACP challenged Topeka’s policy of segregated schooling. >In the early 1950s Topeka had a population of about 80,000, eight percent of the city’s residents were black. >Segregated elementary schools, and the harmful psychological effects of segregation on African American children. >Busses and railroads were integrated, but most restaurants, hotels, and other public places were usually segregated—by practice, not by law. >With only four public elementary schools for black children, some students had to take long bus rides to reach their schools, and some of the schools lacked the facilities and programs of white elementary schools. >The NAACP attorneys argued that segregated schools violated the Fourteenth Amendment and harmed black students. >The 1954 United States Supreme Court decision in //Oliver L. Brown et.al. v. the Board of Education of Topeka (KS) et.al.// is among the most significant judicial turning points in the development of our country. > The Supreme Court combined five cases under the heading of //Brown// v. Board of Education, because each sought the same legal remedy. The combined cases emanated from Delaware, Kansas, South Carolina, Virginia and Washington, DC

List the major arguments of the plaintiffs > 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. >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.

List the major arguments of the Defendants >Constitution did not require white and African American children to attend the same schools. >Social separation of blacks and whites was a regional custom. >Segregation was not harmful to black people. >Whites were making a good faith effort to equalize the two educational systems. >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.

What important change happened, and what was its impact? 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.

What did the Court decide? The court's decision was written by Earl Warren and it stated that it was unclear as to intention of the 14th amendment to allow for segregation in public education. They believed it was to be associated with transportation and not education. It also was stated that segregation of education led for an unequal protection under the 14th amendment.

Enforcing the Decision The court demanded states to end segregation "with all deliberate speed." With little said on how to enforce the courts decision allowed for segregationist to start defiances and resistances to protest integration.

 What is the overall importance and legacy of //Brown v. Board// ? Defenders of the “southern way of life” underestimated the determination of their black neighbors.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. (It led to the movement for social justice and other rights for ethnic minorities.)