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] Were you successful? What did your learn in the activity (just think about it ....)** It took a couple tries, but in the end I was successful in fighting against segregation in schools. I learned that fighting against segregation is not easy and it takes time. ** 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
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 * = **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.** ||  ||=   ||
 * Place: Topeka, Kansas
 * Grievance: was segregated elementary schools, and the harmful psychological effects of segregation on African American children
 * Plaintiffs: Oliver Brown and 13 other parents from Topeka
 * Decision: A three-judge federal court ruled against the plaintiffs. The plaintiffs’ appeal reached the U.S. Supreme Court.

** 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 misunderstood 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 segreegation in public schools.
 * The Fourteenth Amendment didn't say that segregated schools would be allowed in the states.
 * psychological testing demonstrated the harmful effects of segregation on 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 decisions.
 * Segregation did not hurt black people.
 * Whites were trying to make education equal. 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.
 * Justices worried that a decision to integrate schools might be unenforceable
 * In September 1953 Vinson died.
 * 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 didn't know if the framers of the Fourteenth Amendment meant to segregate public education.
 * He felt that education was the most important function of state and local governments.
 * Segregation deprived African-Americans of equal protection.

**ENFORCING THE DECISION (discuss "with all deliberate speed) (Check [|Link 1] ** [|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. But the Court ordered only that the states end segregation with “all deliberate speed.”

**THE IMPACT and LEGACY** **(Check** [|**Link 1**] **)** What is the overall importance and legacy of //Brown v. Board//? By far the biggest thing it did was fight for non-segregated schools, but it accomplished many other things along the way.