August 5, 2023: Dr. Steve Brown's guest today on EDUCATION MATTERS is Cheryl Brown Henderson, daughter of the late Rev. Oliver L. Brown, after whom the landmark 1954 U.S. Supreme Court case of BROWN v. BOARD OF EDUCATION is named.
Brown v. Board of Education (1954, 1955)
The case that came to be known as Brown v. Board of Education was actually the name given to five separate cases that were heard by the U.S. Supreme Court concerning the issue of segregation in public schools. These cases were Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Briggs v. Elliot, Davis v. Board of Education of Prince Edward County (VA.), Bolling v. Sharpe, and Gebhart v. Ethel. While the facts of each case are different, the main issue in each was the constitutionality of state-sponsored segregation in public schools. Once again, Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund handled these cases.
Although it acknowledged some of the plaintiffs'/plaintiffs claims, a three-judge panel at the U.S. District Court that heard the cases ruled in favor of the school boards. The plaintiffs then appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
When the cases came before the Supreme Court in 1952, the Court consolidated all five cases under the name of Brown v. Board of Education. Marshall personally argued the case before the Court. Although he raised a variety of legal issues on appeal, the most common one was that separate school systems for blacks and whites were inherently unequal, and thus violate the "equal protection clause" of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Furthermore, relying on sociological tests, such as the one performed by social scientist Kenneth Clark, and other data, he also argued that segregated school systems had a tendency to make black children feel inferior to white children, and thus such a system should not be legally permissible.
Meeting to decide the case, the Justices of the Supreme Court realized that they were deeply divided over the issues raised. While most wanted to reverse Plessy and declare segregation in public schools to be unconstitutional, they had various reasons for doing so. Unable to come to a solution by June 1953 (the end of the Court's 1952-1953 term), the Court decided to rehear the case in December 1953. During the intervening months, however, Chief Justice Fred Vinson died and was replaced by Gov. Earl Warren of California. After the case was reheard in 1953, Chief Justice Warren was able to do something that his predecessor had not—i.e. bring all of the Justices to agree to support a unanimous decision declaring segregation in public schools unconstitutional. On May 14, 1954, he delivered the opinion of the Court, stating that "We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of 'separate but equal' has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal. . ."
Expecting opposition to its ruling, especially in the southern states, the Supreme Court did not immediately try to give direction for the implementation of its ruling. Rather, it asked the attorney generals of all states with laws permitting segregation in their public schools to submit plans for how to proceed with desegregation. After still more hearings before the Court concerning the matter of desegregation, on May 31, 1955, the Justices handed down a plan for how it was to proceed; desegregation was to proceed with "all deliberate speed." Although it would be many years before all segregated school systems were to be desegregated, Brown and Brown II (as the Courts plan for how to desegregate schools came to be called) were responsible for getting the process underway.
brownvboard.orgBrown Foundation | For Educational Equity, Excellence and ...
Established in October of 1988, The Brown Foundation grew out of a cooperative effort between the family of the late Oliver Brown and local community leaders. See the Brown Foundation Story. The concept was to create an entity that would serve not simply as a commemorative organization, but as a crucible for public discourse around the ongoing impact and significance of Brown v. Board of Education.
Foundation programmatic activity initially centered around the awarding of scholarships to minority students pursuing degrees in teacher education; encouraging academic research on the topic of emerging trends in access to equal educational opportunity; convening national education conferences that addressed the contemporary impact of the Brown decision and recognizing individuals involved in the civil rights movement.
The Brown Foundation operated with a volunteer staff for six years after is founding. During that period, the Foundation experienced unforeseen prominence when presented with an opportunity to save an endangered building that had been among the elementary schools named in Brown v. Board of Education. In 1990, the process of developing a plan to save this historic treasure led to working with the United States Congress and the U.S. Department of the Interior to determine if this property was suitable for designation as a unit of the National Park Service.
After two years of due diligence, on October 26, 1992 President George H.W. Bush signed into law an act, which added the old building to the roster of National Parks. From that day forward the former Monroe Elementary School, one of four buildings that served as a segregated school for African American children, would be known as Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site. With years of planning the building underwent extensive renovation and opened for visitors on the 50th anniversary of the Brown decision, May 17, 2004. The site provides visitors with interpretive exhibits used to educate and inspire present and future generations.
In 2002, the Foundation once again worked with Congress to pass legislation that established the Brown v. Board of Education 50th Anniversary Presidential Commission, which served as a federal presence for the anniversary of Brown from May 2003 until December 2004.