Brown+v.+Board

African American Parents and Activist's in Topeka, Kansas challenged the idea of segregated schooling. The argued that segregation in schools had negative effects on African American kids, and the school facilities were not equal. They combined cases from Delaware, Kansas, South Carolina, Virginia and Washington, DC to form a larger, more powerful case. They challenged the constitutionality of segregation in public schools.
 * 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])**
 * 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.

**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.

The court agreed with the civil rights attorneys that it was not clear whether the framers of the Fourteenth Amendment intended to permit segregated public education. One of the court members, Vinson, died and was replaced with Earl Warren as cheif justice. His leadership in producing a unanimous decision to overturn //Plessy// changed the course of American history. Several members of the court doubted the constitutional authority of the Court to end school segregation. And the justices worried that a decision to integrate schools might be unenforceable.
 * THE CHANGE IN THE COURT (leading to a decision) (check [|Link 1])**

They stated that education was perhaps the most vital function of state and local governments, and racial segregation of any kind deprived African Americans of equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment. They had said that seperate educational facilities were unequal. He also said that education was really important for balcks and whites and racial segregation deprived blacks of equal protection under the fourteeth amendment.
 * THE COURT DECISION (in your own words) (check [|Link 1] and Link 2)**

**ENFORCING THE DECISION (discuss "with all deliberate speed) (Check [|Link 1] ****)** The //Brown// decision declared the system of legal segregation unconstitutional. But the Court ordered only that the states end segregation with “all deliberate speed.” Because this was so vague segregationists played on the fears and prejudices of their communities and launched a militant campaign of defiance and resistance. With such a vague statement people began to picket and end segregation in any way they felt possible. The phrase "with all deliberate speed" was telling the states and slave owners to end slavery as soon as they can in any way they feel appropriate.

Whites and blacks still had tensions toward each other. Blacks pushed even harder for the Brown V. Board case to be enforced and whites werent prepared for such intensity. The struggle continued - blacks still pushed to have it enforced and whites were hesitant. Even after the case was over people used the issues of desegregation of schools for campiagns for social justice. Even 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**]**)**