Brown+V.+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?**

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

Make a bulleted list of the basic facts of the cases brought to the Supreme Court
 * BASIC FACTS OF THE CASES (more than one) (check video, [|Link 1], [|Link 2], [|Link 3])**


 * In Topeka, Kansas there were segregated elementary schools
 * African American parents and local activists claimed that this had harmful psychological effects on African American children
 * The federal court ruled against the Plaintiffs (Oliver Brown and 13 other parents from Topeka), but the plaintiffs' appeal reached the U.S. Supreme Court.

List the major arguments of the plaintiffs
 * MAIN ARGUMENTS OF THE PLAINTIFF (for integration) (check [|Link 1])**
 * In Plessy v. Ferguson, the Supreme Court had misinterpreted the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. Equal protection of the laws did not allow for racial segregation.
 * The 14th Amendment allowed the government to prohibit any discriminatory state action based on race, including segregation in public schools.
 * The 14th 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**]**)**

In September 1953, Vinson died and President Dwight Eisenhower appointed Earl Warren as chief justice. Earl Warren changed the direction of the court and ended up writing the decision to bring down legal segregation.

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

The Court decided to agree with Brown and to bring down legal segregation because it was depriving African Americans equal education.

**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 Court's statement about the enforcement of the decision was that the states end segregation with "all deliberate speed". The enforcement was not very strong, and defiance and resistance gathered.

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

Ultimately, it reached to include women, people with disabilaties, racial and ethnic minorities and other groups, all demanding equality. Sets the stage for the fight for Civil Rights. It's what gets the civil rights movement moving.