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?**

**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.** ||=   || The nearly 200 plaintiffs, whom were either parents or members of the NAACP, were bringing a case against the Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas; they were challenging them about the topic of school segregation. They made a case suggesting that segregation in public schools was scarring to African American children. This case was actually a culmination of several cases from all around the country.
 * BASIC FACTS OF THE CASES (more than one) (check video,** [|**Link 1**]**,** [|**Link 2**]**,** [|**Link 3**]**)**

The plaintiffs said that segregated public schools were wrong and could have lasting psychological effects on a child's well being. The plaintiffs all tried to enroll their children in a segregated white school and were denied.
 * MAIN ARGUMENTS OF THE PLAINTIFF (for integration) (check** [|**Link 1**]**)**

One of the arguments of the defendants was that the Constitution did not require white and African American children to attend the same schools. Another one was social separation of blacks and whites was a regional custom; the states should be left free to regulate their own social affairs. Another argument was that segregation was not harmful to black people and whites were making a good faith effort to equalize the two educational systems, but black children were still living with the effects of slavery and it would take some time before they were able to compete with white children in the same classroom.
 * MAIN ARGUMENTS OF THE DEFENDANTS (for segregation) (check [|Link 1])**

Deciding the case of Brown v. Board was difficult because of the differing social philosophies and temperaments that divided the nine justices. When Fred Vinson died, President Dwight Eisenhower appointed Earl Warren as chief justice. Warren's leadership in producing a unanimous decision to overturn //Plessy// changed the course of American history.
 * THE CHANGE IN THE COURT (leading to a decision) (check** [|**Link 1**]**)**

Earl Warren agreed with the civil rights attorneys that it was not clear whether the framers of the Fourteenth Amendment intended to permit segregated public education. He believed that education was the most vital function of state and local governments. Warren also thought that racial segregation of any kind deprived African Americans of equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment and due process under the Fifth 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. The Court ordered only that the states end segregation with “all deliberate speed.” This was not a very clear way to enforce the ruling and in effect, gave segregationists the opportunity to organize resistance. Many whites welcomed the //Brown// decision, but some also considered it an assault on their way of life.

Even though the decision did not entirely change the minds of everyone living in America at that time, today most Americans believe that integration is the way. America used to be famous for our promise of racial equality and diversity, and after Brown v. Board, life was more like that than it ever had been before.
 * THE IMPACT and LEGACY** **(Check** [|**Link 1**]**)**