Brown+v.+Board


 * SETTING THE STAGE** - **[|Participate in The Road to Justice activity]**

Make a bulleted list of the basic facts of the cases brought to the Supreme Court -discriminatory nature of racial segregation ... "violates the 14th amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees all citizens equal protection of the laws - racial segregation in public schools 
 * BASIC FACTS OF THE CASES (more than one) (check video, [|Link 1], [|Link 2], [|Link 3])**

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

 -Equal protection of the laws did not allow for racial segregation. -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. List the major arguments of the Defendants
 * MAIN ARGUMENTS OF THE DEFENDANTS (for segregation) (check [|Link 1])**

-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.

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

n 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 DECISION (in your own words) (check** [|**Link 1**] **and Link 2)**

Separate facilities are unequal, and unfair. 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...Any language in contrary to this finding is rejected. We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal. **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 //Brown// decision declared the system of legal segregation unconstitutional. A large number of whites considered it an assault on their way of life.

What is the overall importance and legacy of //Brown v. Board//? 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.  
 * THE IMPACT and LEGACY** **(Check** [|**Link 1**]**)**