Primary Sources
Articles
Carter, Robert L. "The Unending Struggle for Equal Educational
Opportunity." TCR Summer95, Vol. 96, Issue 4. 14 February
2004 <http://www.tcrecord.org>.
Carter surmises that, at the fortieth anniversary of the Brown
decision, racial discrimination and the dual school system in
public schools are commonplace. In 1979, Linda Brown sought the
help of the courts in securing for her children the educational
benefits that her father had "won" for her in 1954.
Carter recalled that the NAACP counsel in the Brown case
sought integration as a "means to the objective, not as the
objective itself."
Huston, Luther A. "On This Day." May 18, 1954, New
York Times 21 February 2004 <www.nytimes.com/learning/general.onthisday/big/0517.html#article>.
The New York Times carried the
Brown decision on their headline, "High Court Bans
School Segregation: 9-0 decision grants time to comply."
The text of the article summarized Chief Justice Warren's reading
of the two opinions, Brown and Bolling v. Sharpe,
thereby overturning Plessy in the realm of public education,
with a unanimous decision.
Lewis, Anthony. "Since the Supreme Court Spoke." May
10, 1964, New York Times 7 May 2004 <http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/nytimes/97391049.html>.
Lewis' review of the ten years
immediately following Brown is accompanied by a collection
of photographs entitled "The Racial Decade." The twelve
pictures in the collection mark twelve distinct chapters of race
relations beginning with the May 1954 Supreme Court decision and
ending with a protest by whites opposed to school busing. Lewis
describes the Brown decision "as the spark of a revolution
in American attitudes toward the race problem." He details
the civil rights achievements that followed Brown while
acknowledging the distance remaining to travel.
Books
Beals, Melba Pattillo. Warriors Don't Cry.
New York: Pocket Books, 1994.
Melba Pattillo Beals was one of
the "Little Rock Nine," and this is her personal account
of her experiences as a student selected to begin the integration
of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. This account
reflects the impact of Brown II's ambivalent remedy. Pattillo
Beals also poignantly details the horrors that the black students
integrating previously all white schools encountered on a daily
basis. She sheds light on the exchange these brave students made,
sacrificing the familiarity and support of their communities in
hopes of both furthering the larger national cause of integration
and their own educations. As a young person exploring her place
in the world at large Pattillo Beals, and her peers in the "Little
Rock Nine," changed a country.
Counts, Will. A Life is More Than a Moment.
Indiana: Indiana University Press, 1999.
Will Counts' photographic journey
explores the 1957 desegregation of Central High School in Little
Rock, Arkansas. Governor Orville Faubus ordered the National Guard
to prevent nine black students from entering the school. President
Eisenhower would later order the 101st Airborne soldiers
to protect the students from the threatening encounters awaiting
them. These photographs explore the treatment that this group
of students, known as the "Little Rock Nine," encountered.
Several of the photographs depict one of the "Little Rock
Nine," Elizabeth Eckford, being taunted by a white student,
Hazel Bryan. Hazel later recalled acting in this manner because
"everyone else was." In 1997, Hazel and Elizabeth met
and exchanged their memories and feelings as plans were being
made for the 40th anniversary of Central High's integration.
Photos from Central High in 1997 show an integrated student body,
a distinct change from forty years earlier that represents a positive
step towards realizing Brown's legacy.
Evers-Williams, Myrlie, and Melinda Blau. Watch
Me Fly. U.S.A.: Little, Brown and Co., 1999.
Ms. Evers, the first full time
chairperson of the NAACP, is also the widow of murdered civil
rights activist Medgar Evers. Evers explores and details her life
in the movement. The Brown decision came at the same time
that her husband was seeking admission to the all-white law school
at the University of Mississippi. The strong opposition to Brown
from segregationists (who dubbed the day of the decision "Black
Monday") was most fierce in Mississippi where they formed
the powerful Citizens' Council to fight desegregation. The Mississippi
state legislature created the "Sovereignty Commission"
to protect the state's "'sovereign right' to a segregated
society." In Mississippi it was more than ten years after
Brown before one black child enrolled in a white school.
Following the Brown decision, blacks encountered increased
violence including lynchings.
Greenberg, Jack. Crusaders in the Courts.
U.S.A.: Basic Books, 1994.
Greenberg's autobiography provides
an invaluable, firsthand account of the school desegregation cases
from one of the key players. Greenberg details not only the historical
facts surrounding the desegregation cases but provides keen insight
from his personal perspective as one of the NAACP LDF attorneys
that argued before the Supreme Court. He discusses the development
of strategy, from the pursuit of equalization in higher education
to the legal assault on segregation itself in public schools.
He also sheds light on the aftermath of Brown from his
position as the lead counsel of the LDF following Thurgood Marshall
and into the 1980's. He includes photographs to further illustrate
the events of his life.
Lewis, John, and Michael D'Orso. Walking With
the Wind. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1998.
Congressman John Lewis' autobiography
describes the life of a black man who came of age in the wake
of Brown. He was fourteen and finishing his freshman year
in a segregated high school when the decision was rendered. Shortly
after Brown II in 1955, the hope and excitement Lewis felt
after the 1954 opinion had been vanquished by the reality of life
in Alabama where violence against blacks increased and his school
situation went unchanged. Lewis looks at 1955, the year of Brown
II, as a "watershed" for the larger civil rights
movement. Personally, the year and a half following Brown
served to make Lewis feel foolish for having believed the promises
of equality would be fulfilled. Still, the decision served as
a catalyst, an opening step for the civil rights movement. Lewis
recalls that the first Freedom Ride had been planned to culminate
on May 17th, 1961 to coincide with the Brown anniversary.
Martin, Waldo E. Jr., editor. Brown v. Board
of Education; A Brief History With Documents. Boston: Bedford/St.
Martin's, 1998.
This collection of primary source
documents includes newspaper editorials, letters to editors and
political cartoons with accompanying commentary centered on the
reaction to the Brown decision. The documents in the collection
represent a wide range of viewpoints, regions and publications.
The viewpoints run from supportive to antagonistic. The regions
include New York City, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, Jackson, Mississippi,
Arkansas, Los Angeles and Boston. The publications include the
highly regarded New York Times, Boston Herald, Los Angeles Times
and Chicago Sun Times; black newspapers such as the Pittsburgh
Courier, Chicago Defender and the Atlanta Daily World; white college
student papers from the University of Virginia and the University
of Mississippi; and southern white newspapers such as the Atlanta
Constitution, Arkansas Gazette, Jackson (Mississippi) Daily News,
and the Washington Post Times and Herald. Other documents include
The Southern Manifesto of March 12, 1956. From these documents
it becomes apparent that the Brown decision was the focus
of national attention eliciting strong emotions and opinions,
both positive and negative.
Patterson, James T. Brown v. Board of Education:
A Civil Rights Milestone and Its Troubled Legacy. New York:
Oxford University Press, 2001.
Patterson's book contains numerous
photographs and reprints of political cartoons concerning Brown.
One example is the photograph of President Johnson signing the
Civil Rights Act of 1964 that was assisted into realization by
Brown. Patterson analyzes the sentiments of various social
groups surrounding the Brown decision. Desegregation advocates
were certain that the integration of public schools would allow
the American dream of equal opportunity to become reality. This
certainty was based on the influential role of education. In 1947,
President Truman's Committee on Civil Rights had argued that a
great deal of evidence existed stating that an environment favorable
to civil rights will happen when diverse peoples are allowed to
work and play together. Thurgood Marshall viewed segregation to
be as equally damaging as inequality as it did not allow blacks
in the South to even have a glimpse of their potential. Marshall
further thought that schools were the best target for integration
due to the influential role of education, therefore, schools became
the targets of litigation. Many whites feared that integration
in education would lead to interracial dating and marriage. The
Brown decision reached far beyond schools as it served
to motivate other rights conscious groups. It is viewed as being
the "watershed" for the modern civil rights movement
as well as the modern Supreme Court. John Salmond, a civil rights
historian, interpreted the Brown decision to instill pride
in the greatness of the United States and to be a visible separation
from other countries.
Wilson, Paul E. A Time to Lose: Representing
Kansas in Brown v. Board of Education. Kansas: University
Press of Kansas, 1995.
Wilson's account stands out in
that it is the most comprehensive detailing of the losing side
in the Brown cases. He asserts that his is the only such
account. This is a valuable tool to explore the monumental case
in the historical context of 1950's America. Paul Wilson is one
of the lone remaining states' attorneys who argued in Brown.
He sheds light on what it was like to represent the Topeka school
board and thereby oppose the NAACP in the Brown case. As
the original Brown case made its way to the Supreme Court,
Paul E. Wilson served as an assistant attorney general to the
state of Kansas. It was his responsibility to, as he puts it,
"defend the indefensible."
Cases
Belton v. Gebhart, 347 U.S. 483 (1954).
The Delaware case consolidated
under Brown. The case was notable because black students
in Delaware received relatively equal schooling to whites in tangible
terms. This made it a good case for the NAACP LDF to use to challenge
the inequality of segregation itself.
Bolling v. Sharpe, 347 U.S. 497 (1954).
The Washington, D.C. case challenging
"separate but equal." It was decided on the same day
as Brown but the justices used the Fifth Amendment instead
of the Fourteenth Amendment to support their decision since the
District of Columbia is governed differently than states.
Briggs et al. v. Elliott et al., 98 F. Supp.
529 (1951).
The South Carolina case that was
consolidated by the Supreme Court under Brown in which
the plaintiff Harry Briggs challenged the abject inequality of
the black schools in Clarendon County, South Carolina. The federal
district court in South Carolina had ruled that segregation was
permissible under Plessy v. Ferguson and that public education
was a state's prerogative. The court recognized a constitutional
right to equalization and allowed time for South Carolina to make
equalization a reality.
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Shawnee
County, Kansas, 98 F. Supp. 797 (1951).
The case heard in the United States
District Court, District of Kansas that would become the first
case listed by the Supreme Court. The judges expressed a desire
to rule for the plaintiffs and end segregation in Kansas' schools.
However they felt bound by the Plessy precedent and decided
to wait for a Supreme Court ruling.
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas
(Brown I), 347 U.S. 483 (1954).
This was the title given to the
four school desegregation cases heard by the Supreme Court. The
Court chose to put Oliver Brown's name first, though it was not
alphabetically so, to take pressure off the South.
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas
(Brown II), 349 U.S. 294 (1955).
This was the implementation decision
following the 1954 finding in Brown I. The opinion is infamous
for its use of the ill-defined term "all deliberate speed"
to govern desegregation.
Cooper v. Aaron, 358 U.S. 1 (1958).
The case centered on desegregation
in Little Rock, Arkansas following massive resistance on the part
of Governor Orville Faubus. The justices tried to make it clear
that violence, and the threat thereof, would not prevent desegregation
from moving forward.
Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward
County, 103 F. Supp. 337 (1952).
The Virginia case consolidated
under Brown. Teenager Barbara Johns was instrumental in
bringing the NAACP LDF into Prince Edward County to fight for
desegregation.
Dowell v. Oklahoma City School Board, 498
U.S. 237 (1991).
A federal court found the district
to be "unitary" leading the school board to vote for
a return to segregation. The Supreme Court held that unitary status
was sufficient to preclude a district from its responsibility
to maintain desegregation.
Dred Scott v. Sandford, 60 U.S. (19 How.) 393 (1857).
This was the famous decision during
the time of Chief Justice Roger Taney that found the Missouri
Compromise unconstitutional. The decision also stated that blacks
were not citizens and thus not entitled to equal protection under
the law. The citation for this case is made tricky by the fact
that a Court clerk misspelled John Sanford's name as "Sandford."
The Court never corrected this error.
Freeman v. Pitts, 503 U.S. 467 (1992).
In this case the Supreme Court
relaxed the responsibility, established in Green, of school
districts to desegregate.
Green v. School Board of New Kent County, VA, 391 U.S.
430 (1968).
A case challenging the constitutionality
of "freedom of choice" plans. The Court ruled that segregated
dual school systems must be taken apart "root and branch."
Griffin v. County School Board of Prince Edward County,
377 U.S. 218 (1964).
The Supreme Court tried to stop
a plan to close down the public schools rather than desegregate.
Justice Hugo Black gave word to the Court's thinning patience
writing that there is "entirely too much deliberation and
not enough speed" in applying the Brown mandate.
Keyes v. School District No. 1, Denver, Colorado, 413
U.S. 189 (1973).
The first Supreme Court ruling
on school segregation in the West where there was technically
no de jure segregation. This case recognized the rights of Latinos
in addition to blacks to desegregated, equal education.
McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education, 339
U.S. 637 (1950).
In this case the Court ruled that
the University of Oklahoma's segregationist policies were in violation
of the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause. The Court
recognized the value of intangibles, such as the ability to study
and interact with other students, in an equal education.
Milliken v. Bradley (Milliken I), 418, U.S. 717 (1974).
The Detroit case limited the possibility
to include suburbs within a city's desegregation plans. This is
interesting to consider in light of the prevalence of white flight.
Justice Thurgood Marshall wrote an eloquent dissent in the case.
Milliken v. Bradley (Milliken II), 433 U.S. 267 (1977).
The Court ruled that a district
could be held responsible for making reparations to students who
suffered an unequal education due to segregation.
Missouri v. Jenkins, 515 U.S. 70 (1995).
The Supreme Court ended the judicial
oversight of a resegregated district with a large majority of
black students and very poor conditions in the schools.
Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (1896).
This was the infamous decision
establishing "separate but equal" as a constitutional
precedent. In this case the justices refused to acknowledge that
states were bound by the provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Justice Harlan wrote a famous dissent in the case, stating that
the "constitution is colorblind."
Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education, 402
U.S. 1 (1971).
Under Chief Justice Burger, the
Court attempted to clarify its position on remedy powers. The
opinion states, "The nature of the violation determines the
scope of the remedy."
Sweatt v. Painter, 339 U.S. 629 (1950).
The Court ruled that the University
of Texas School of Law had to admit black students. The Court
recognized the importance of certain intangibles, such as prestige,
in a law school education. Decided on the same day as McLaurin,
the case marked one step in the NAACP LDF assault on segregation.
Documents
Civil Rights Act of 1964. 2 July 1964. 10
December 2003 <http://www.toptags.com/aama/docs/Act1964.htm>.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964, signed
by President Johnson, ended segregation in all public places and
expanded the definition of civil rights for all Americans. The
Brown decision was an integral step in the realization
of this Act of 1964.
Executive Order 10730. 23 September 1957.
10 December 2003 <http://www.Toptags.com/aama/docs/eo10730.htm>.
This Executive Order was enacted
by President Eisenhower to end segregation in Little Rock's Central
High School. The Order authorized military action to implement
desegregation as mandated by Brown.
Flemming, Arthur S., Horn, Stephen, Freeman, Frankie
M., Ruiz, Manuel Jr., Rankin, Robert, Saltzman, Murray, and Buggs,
John A. Fulfilling the Letter and Spirit Of the Law: Desegregation
of the Nation's Public Schools. U.S. Commission on Civil Rights,
1976.
This report presents the Commission's
perspective on the state of school desegregation at the nation's
bicentennial. The Commission describes a steadily improving rate
of desegregation and cites the benefits to children of all races
gained from integrated education.
General Management Plan, Development Concept Plan,
Interpretation, and Visitor Experience Plan. Brown v. Board
of Education National Historic Site, August, 1996.
Established on October 26th,
1992, the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic
Site was dedicated to honoring the landmark Supreme Court decision.
This designation displays Brown's iconic status as it is
the only Supreme Court decision to be so honored. One of the site's
goals is to educate visitors about the importance of this monumental
decision and to ensure that its positive legacy will endure.
Miller, George R. Letter to Mr. Fred Bulah. 18 December
1950. "The Brown Cases, 1950-1952" 11 January
2004 <http://www.jimcrowhistory.org/resources>.
This reply letter from the Delaware
State Board of Education to Mr. Fred Bulah, one of the appellants
in the Delaware desegregation cases, demonstrates the de jure
school segregation in place prior to Brown.
The Mississippi Sovereignty Commission. "Founding
Charter Document," 1957. 11 December 2003 <http://www.toptags.com/aama/events/scommis.htm>.
This charter establishes the scope
and purpose of the Mississippi Sovereignty Commission. The Mississippi
State Legislature established the Commission in response to the
Supreme Court mandate in Brown to desegregate public schools.
The Commission's goal was to resist the mandate at all costs.
This is an example of the "massive resistance" in the
South to Brown.
A Petition to the President and the Congress
of the United States. 14 April 1959. Official File 142-A,
"Negro Matters-Colored Question" folder, Box 731, White
House Central Files. Dwight D. Eisenhower Library, Abilene, Kansas.
10 January 2004 <http://www.jimcrowhistory.org/resources>.
A petition signed by leaders such
as, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Jackie Robinson, and Daisy Bates,
asking the U.S. Congress and President Eisenhower to enact legislation
to implement Brown.
A Sharecrop Contract. 1882. 11 December 2003.
<http://www.toptags.com/aama/docs/sharecrop.htm>.
This document shows the lack of
opportunity for blacks in the United States, even after the Civil
War and the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments.
Blacks were kept in a position as close to slavery as possible
through Jim Crow laws.
Situation Report: Arkansas. 7 March 1958.
Events at Central High School Official File 142-A, "Little
Rock, Arkansas School Integration" folder, Box 732, White
House Central Files. Dwight D. Eisenhower Library, Abilene, Kansas.
15 December 2003 <http://www.jimcrowhistory.org/resources>.
This daily report, from the Office
of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Military Operations, describes
abuse directed at the black students integrating Little Rock's
Central High School as well as gunshots in the superintendent's
car.
Interviews
Benson, Victoria Jean. Telephone interview. 10 May
2004.
Ms. Benson is the daughter of Maude
Lawton, who was one of the parent plaintiffs in the Kansas case.
At the time of the Brown decision in 1954, Ms. Benson was
eight years old, and attending a segregated elementary school.
Ms. Benson described how her mother came to be a plaintiff in
Brown. The Lawton family lived within the same community
as a number of plaintiffs and NAACP workers. McKinley Burnett
was the President of the local NAACP chapter at the time. Mr.
Burnett was a family friend who also attended the same church.
The Lawtons were also neighbors of Charles Scott Sr. and his family.
Ms. Benson said that ultimately her mother thought that segregation
was wrong, and that any type of injustice should not be allowed
to continue. As a result, she took the brave step of signing her
name onto the list of plaintiffs in Brown. Even though
she was only eight years old at the time of the 1954 decision,
Ms. Benson did not attend a desegregated school until she reached
junior high school. Ironically, the Topeka middle schools had
been desegregated prior to Brown. This policy anomaly still
haunts Ms. Benson to this day. She asks herself why the Topeka
School Board would inflict segregation on its youngest students.
Ms. Benson's younger brother was the first child in the Lawton
family to attend a desegregated elementary school. She recalls
the anxiety before, during, and after Brown on the part
of black teachers who were afraid that they would lose their jobs
if desegregation took place. Living in Topeka Ms. Benson did not
encounter the "horror story" interactions with whites
as did other blacks. In fact she recalls that blacks in Topeka
in general did not experience the violence and horror encountered
by blacks in other parts of the country. Ms. Benson explained
that once the white students in her junior and senior high schools
realized that she did not intend to cause problems or controversies,
they developed good relationships. She went on to complete cosmetology
school where she was the first black student. Ms. Benson has worked
as a cosmetologist for thirty-four years. She does not want the
children of today to forget the struggles of their ancestors.
Ms. Benson feels that, "we can all learn from one another."
Summing things up, she said that, "God didn't create people
to be mean to each other or to discriminate. That's why my mother
put her name down."
Bersin, Alan. Personal interview. 13 May 2004.
Mr. Bersin is the Superintendent
of the San Diego Unified School District. Before obtaining this
position, he was a United States Attorney in San Diego. This combination
gives him a unique perspective on Brown in general and
its particular legacy in San Diego. Mr. Bersin stated emphatically
that, "Brown ended apartheid in America since before
the decision the law prescribed segregation of the races."
He said that in 1977 the San Diego Unified School District was
composed of "seventy percent white children and thirty percent
children of color. In 2004 those percentages are reversed."
He noted that in the late 1970s, busing was the only option to
achieve school integration. Residential segregation continues
to be an obstacle in achieving integration. San Diego is not immune
to the racism that is pervasive in the United States. It is the
issues of race and class that have been, and will continue to
be, challenges for America according to Mr. Bersin. He pointed
out that students in today's desegregated schools are "standing
on the shoulders of the pioneers who fought to end segregation."
In Bersin's view, when Brown's one-hundredth anniversary
is celebrated, " fifty years from now, we'll be that much
closer to achieving equal educational opportunities for all of
San Diego's children."
Brown, Harold. Personal interview. 13 May 2004.
Mr. Brown is a former teacher,
college professor, Deputy Director of the U.S. Peace Corps in
Lesotho, Africa, and CORE worker who fought for fair housing for
blacks. He recalls being harassed by whites on his way to school
as a young boy. Not only did he and his peers have to pass higher
quality white schools on their way to poorly funded black schools
but they daily encountered verbal abuse and taunts from white
adults and children alike. He also remembers his cross-country
drive to Southern California to continue his higher education.
He and a friend drove straight through because there were no motels
in which they could stay. There were also no restaurants or bathroom
facilities for them to utilize. Mr. Brown is an advocate of the
equalization of educational opportunities. He believes that busing
is too costly an option to achieve integration when so many schools
in inner cities are woefully under-funded. He also believes that
inner city, minority communities would be strengthened by keeping
their children in neighborhood schools.
Davis, Maurita Burnett. Telephone interview. 10
May 2004.
Ms. Davis is the daughter of McKinley
Burnett who was the President of the Topeka branch of the NAACP
during Brown. Mr. Burnett was an initiator and strategist
in the Kansas case. Mr. Burnett was one of the people responsible
for exploring Topeka's black community in search of potential
plaintiffs. Ms. Davis described various encounters that she and
her family experienced as a result of the Brown litigation.
For example, she said that the black teachers were not nice to
the students whose families were involved in the case. The black
teachers were anxious over the prospect of losing their jobs if
desegregation took place and took out their anxieties and resentments
on the students. Ms. Davis recalls being interviewed frequently
by a school psychologist during the Brown litigation. The
psychologist asked her lots of questions about her father and
the case. Her father faced negative encounters in the workplace.
Mr. Burnett worked at the Veteran's Hospital. He never received
promotions that he deserved on the basis on merit because of his
involvement in Brown. He daily had to read items to his
illiterate boss but still was never promoted. Despite these negative
consequences her father maintained his involvement in the case,
exchanging his personal welfare for a greater good. Mr. Burnett
continued fighting to end segregation because he knew it was for
the betterment of all and "he believed in righting all wrongs."
Each year on May 17th, Mr. Burnett marked Brown's
anniversary with a tea party for family and friends. The party's
refreshments may have been simple because of her father's income
but the celebration was no less heartfelt.
Greenberg, Jack. E-mail interview. 23 May 2004.
Jack Greenberg was one of the NAACP
LDF attorneys who argued the Delaware portion of the Brown
case. He continued his work with the NAACP LDF for thirty-five
years, arguing cases involving issues such as school integration,
voter registration, fair housing, and equal employment. In 1961
he became Director-Counsel of the LDF, succeeding Thurgood Marshall
in that position. He has been the Dean of Columbia College. Greenberg
continues to be on the faculty of Columbia Law School. As a firsthand
participant in developing the strategy leading to Brown,
executing that strategy in the courts, and working to fulfill
the Brown legacy, Greenberg provides unparalleled insight
into the historic case. He cites the massive resistance to the
decision as the largest barrier to fulfilling its legacy, specifically
noting the "Southern Manifesto," anti integration laws
adopted by southern states which included "procedures to
make it difficult, to impossible, for blacks to transfer to white
schools and laws that closed schools if blacks entered,"
and the fact that southern governors called out the national guard
to stop black students from entering previously all white schools.
Greenberg sees this resistance, and more importantly the deep
prejudice that it represents, as having a more harmful effect
on the implementation of Brown than the often-debated phrase,
"all deliberate speed," used by Chief Justice Warren
in Brown II. As he puts it "language could not counteract
such deep prejudice. Words alone could not have made things different."
He feels that the Civil Rights Movement did in fact make a difference
in fulfilling Brown's legacy.
Scott, Charles Jr. Telephone interview. 11 May 2004.
Mr. Scott, an attorney, has a unique
role in the context of Brown. His father, Charles Scott,
Sr., was one of the attorneys in the Kansas case. Working for
the NAACP, Mr. Scott, Sr. was responsible for exploring for plaintiffs
to bring a suit against the Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas.
Mr. Scott, Jr. explained the qualities and factors for which his
father was looking in potential plaintiffs saying that he was
looking for "black kids who lived in areas near whites only
schools whose parents would be willing to try to enroll them in
the white schools." The NAACP knew that the attempts to enroll
the black students would be denied because of the practice of
segregation. The denial would be the basis of the NAACP case attacking
segregation. Mr. Scott, Jr. discussed the encounters from inside
and outside of the black community that his father, and his family
as a whole, encountered as a result of the Scott family's role
in Brown. Within the black community the Scotts received
no support, particularly financially, making life difficult. The
younger Scott's unique role in Brown stems from his participation
in Brown III, a case brought by Linda Brown Henderson on
behalf of her children in 1979. At issue in Brown III,
was the fact that the schools in Topeka were as segregated in
1979 as they had been in 1954. As Mr. Scott, Jr. said the schools
were "still exactly the same." He never thought that
he would be involved in another Brown case as his father
had been before him. He assumed that desegregation would occur
as ordered by the Supreme Court. Eventually, in 1994, the Topeka
Board of Education was able to devise an acceptable plan to desegregate
its schools. A component of the plan was the creation of magnet
schools in Topeka, one of which is named for the Scott family.
Mr. Scott, Jr. pointed out one of the ironies of the Brown
legacy. "Brown has done a lot of good in integrating
other branches of American life but did little good in schools,"
a fact that remains true today. He continued, saying that most
schools are still as segregated today as they were before Brown.
Mr. Scott, Jr. shared his feelings that if we as a country never
desegregate our schools, we will never have a truly integrated
society with equal opportunity for all Americansblacks, whites,
and all other minorities.
Smith, Dorothy L. W. Personal interview. 13 May
2004.
Dorothy L.W. Smith attended segregated
elementary, junior high, and high schools in Tennessee. After
graduating as class valedictorian from Weakley High School in
1957, she was denied admission to the University of Tennessee
because she is black. Thus she was forced to attend the historically
black, Philander Smith College, in Little Rock, Arkansas. She
finished her Bachelor's Degree in English from California State
University, Long Beach in 1969. Mrs. Smith went on to become a
member and president of the San Diego Unified School District's
Board of Education. She described what it was like to grow up
as a child in Jim Crow Tennessee, saying that, "we knew that
we were separated from whitesI felt deprived in the town. There
were separate white and colored windows at the hamburger placewe
couldn't use the facilities that we paid taxes for." Despite
these injustices, Mrs. Smith saw hope both within her community
and the black schools. "The schools were a bright spot in
my life. There were people who cared about me, helped me, and
brought me books. In school I learned what I needed to know. In
my home I learned I could be anything I wanted to be." Even
though she felt love and compassion from her family, church, and
school Mrs. Smith knew at a young age that the tangible quality
of her education was not equal to that received by white children.
"I encountered 'separate but equal' facilities, and they
were never 'separate but equal.' It was always separate but unequal."
Mrs. Smith went on to say that Brown's promise of equality
remains unfulfilled. "We have not really worked hard enough
to fulfill the legacy, to fulfill the dream." She feels that
future generations must work towards achieving true integration
and equality.
Smith, George Walker. Personal interview. 13 May
2004.
The Reverend George Walker Smith,
the first black elected to public office in San Diego, and a former
member and president of the San Diego Unified School District's
Board of Education, grew up the son of a sharecropper in segregated
Alabama during the 1930s. He remembers that, "all hell broke
out" following the Brown decision. He shared first-hand
accounts of the killing, mistreatment, and discrimination that
blacks in his Alabama community of Haynesville faced daily. Reverend
Smith and his family of eleven children lived just a step above
slavery. He recognized education as his tool to break free. Even
though the schools he attended were poor and ill equipped, receiving
$39 in funding each year per black student compared with the $239
spent on each white student, his teachers, "instilled in
me, and my classmates, hope. They filled my head up with hope.
No one can take it out." Good fortune allowed him to attend
a private, parochial high school where he excelled and graduated
as class valedictorian. After earning his degree from Knoxville
College in Tennessee Smith wanted to attend medical school but
was rejected because of the color of his skin. As a result he
changed his career goals from medicine to ministry, becoming a
Presbyterian minister, moving to San Diego to serve in 1956. Reverend
Smith was the only member of the San Diego Unified School District
Board of Education to put his kids on the bus. He told his daughters
to be proud of who they were and to be assertive in getting a
good education. Smith feels that, "you can't be busing people
around just for the sake of it. Integration is more than just
moving a black boy to sit next to a white boy. Brown opened
the door for blacks and whites to get together. This has been
the greatest benefit of Brown, bringing people together
not on the basis of test scores, but on what they bring as a person
to the total life of campus." Reverend Smith feels that integration
is merely a means "to an end, not the end itself," meaning
that achieving integration should not be the priority, but that
the focus must instead be on quality education for every student
so that they become the "best and brightest kids possible."
Then, Reverend Smith predicts, integration will be able to occur
naturally due to improved socioeconomic conditions in the black
community, thus enabling more blacks to move into more affluent,
predominantly white neighborhoods. Their children would attend
a local school with their white counterparts, achieving integration
without "unnecessary busing."
Museums and Monuments
Arlington National Cemetery. Site Visitation. December
2003.
While at the famous cemetery, the
resting place for thousands of brave Americans, I visited the
gravesite of Thurgood Marshall. The simple, white tombstone marked
the resting place of one of the legal architects behind the dismantling
of Jim Crow and one of the great, and most influential, legal
minds of the twentieth century.
Gettysburg National Military Park. Site Visitation.
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. December 2003.
Driving around the Civil War battlefields
that witnessed the War's most horrific battles, I considered what
the War was about. It was another chapter in the United States'
centuries long struggle with race. Here tens of thousands of men
lost their lives not only over the preservation of the Union but
over the existence of slavery in the nation.
Jefferson Memorial. Site Visitation. Washington,
D.C. December 2003.
The quotes on the marble walls
of the memorial clearly detail the promises and ideals of America
for all people that Thomas Jefferson so eloquently put into words.
One wall displays Jefferson's thoughts regarding the importance
of a Constitution that grows and adapts to developing definitions
of equality and freedom. "Laws and institutions must go hand
in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more
developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new
truths discovered and manners and opinions change, with the change
of circumstances, institutions must advance also to keep pace
with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the
coat which fitted him when a boy as civilized society to remain
ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors." This
brings to mind the justices questioning of John Davis over the
possibility of the changing definition of "equal" during
the Briggs portion of the Brown arguments.
Lincoln Memorial. Site Visitation. Washington, D.C.
December 2003.
The Lincoln Memorial pays homage
to the sixteenth president of the United States. Lincoln's quotes
displayed on the memorial's walls indicate his views on slavery
in the United States. The memorial also holds a place in African
American history as the central site for the 1963 March on Washington.
A plaque marks the place where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stood
to deliver his "I Have a Dream" speech. Standing on
and gazing out from this spot toward the Capitol building I was
inspired by the courage of all people who have stood up and fought
not only for their individual civil rights but for those of all
people and the nation as a whole.
National Archives. Site Visitation. December 2003.
As I viewed the Declaration of
Independence, the Bill of Rights and the Constitution, I was inspired
and awed by the significance of these documents. I also saw a
"People's Choice" display in which Americans had voted
on the documents they believed to be most influential in shaping
the country. The Brown v. Board of Education decision
was voted into the top fifteen, demonstrating the decision's
iconic status among Americans.
National Constitution Center. Site Visitation. Philadelphia.
December 2003.
"Freedom Rising" is a
multimedia experience at the National Constitution Center that
brings the Constitution to life and places the battles over its
interpretation into a contemporary context. The presentation makes
it clear that the Constitution is a living document designed to
grow with the United States rather than hold the country back
to the standards of the eighteenth century when it was written.
"The Story of We the People," an exhibit at the National
Constitution Center is an interactive experience informative and
influential as it brought the Constitution to life recounting
individual instances in the development of constitutional theory
and law. Particularly interesting for me were the displays on
school desegregation and the larger civil rights movement. Another
feature that stood out were the assorted quotations from historical
figures throughout the history of the United States. These included
Learned Hand, John Marshall, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Thurgood
Marshall.
Smithsonian Institution. National Museum of American
History. Site Visitation. Washington, D.C. December 2003.
I found the "Woolworth's Lunch
Counter" exhibit to be particularly relevant to my study
of Brown v. Board. Woolworth's donated the original lunch
counter from its Greensboro, North Carolina store which was witness
to the first "sit in" protest of the Civil Rights Movement.
This protest, on February 1, 1960, was typical of actions in the
movement following Brown. The historic decision inspired
the movement as a whole, and individual people, to fight for civil
rights and equality in all facets of life in the United States.
United States Supreme Court. Site Visitation. Washington,
D.C. December 2003.
Walking up the steps to the Supreme
Court building I stopped and read the American promise inscribed
over the building's doors, "Equal Justice Under Law."
This is what the NAACP LDF and countless others were fighting
for in Brown. Sitting in the Court itself I imagined what
the scene was like with Thurgood Marshall and the other attorneys
addressing the Court while being opposed by the likes of John
Davis and Paul Wilson. I also tried to imagine the energy in the
room on May 17, 1954 when Chief Justice Earl Warren read the historic
decision. The Court has been witness to countless battles to hold
America accountable to her promises and ideals.
Narratives
"Born in Slavery, Slave Narratives." 1936-1938, Federal
Writers' Project. 20 January 2004 <www.memory.loc.gov/ammen/snhtml/snhome.html>.
These narratives were part of the
"Federal Writers' Project," consisting of interviews
with former slaves. These texts demonstrate the lack of education
for, and poor treatment, of slaves.
Moore, John G. The History of Jim Crow. "Mr.
John G. Moore on the Desegregation of Clinton High School."
20 January 2004 <http://www.jimcrowhistory.org/resources/Narratives/John_Moore.htm>.
Mr. John G. Moore was a white citizen
of Anderson County, Tennessee, home to Clinton High School. Clinton
was the first high school to be integrated following the Brown
decision. He recalls the town as being "ready" for
the desegregation to take place. Resistance and violence came
several days before school was to start from outsiders and members
of the Ku Klux Klan. He recalls that the town of Clinton had only
"two policemen," so a plea went out on the radio asking
for volunteer policemen. Moore responded and experienced "sheer
terror" trying to maintain peace and order.
Williams, Alfred. The History of Jim Crow.
"Mr. Alfred Williams on the Desegregation Of Clinton High
School." 20 January 2004 <http://jimcrowhistory.org/resources/Narratives/Alfred_Williams.htm>.
In this narrative, Mr. Williams
recalls his personal school experience. Before Brown, he
traveled 13 miles each day to attend Austin High School in Knoxville,
Tennessee. In 1956, he was among the twelve students to begin
the integration of Clinton High School. He recalled not wanting
to leave his old school, his friends and familiar surroundings.
The hostility towards these black students was so horrific at
Clinton High School that the State troopers and National Guard
were called in to assist. He ended up getting expelled from Clinton
and felt "hate" towards whites for many years. He has
since reconciled these feelings.
Papers
Chief Justice Earl Warren Papers. "Notes,
William O. Douglas to Earl Warren, 11 May 1954; Harold H. Burton
to Earl Warren 17 May 1954; Felix Frankfurter to Earl Warren,
17 May 1954." 1 February 2004 <http://memory.loc.gov>.
These handwritten notes were each
sent to Chief Justice Warren concerning the Brown decision.
Each note expresses gratitude for Warren's leadership.
Justice Felix Frankfurter Papers. "Felix
Frankfurter's Draft Decree to Enforce Brown v. Board."
April 8, 1955. Words and Deeds in American History. 20 February
2004 <www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/Trr007.html>.
This document shows the crossing
out in pencil of the NAACP favored term, "forthwith,"
and replacing it with "all appropriate speed." This
would later lead to justice Hugo Black's 1964 opinion in Green
that the "time for mere 'deliberate speed' has run out."
The following sources were gathered from the
NAACP Part II Legal files collection at the Library of Congress
in Washington, D.C. These were original documents from the Collections
of the Manuscript Division. Due to age requirements at the Library
of Congress, I was not allowed to photocopy these by myself, therefore,
an adult assisted with the actual photocopying.
Answer of Defendants to Amended Complaint as Amended
in Paragraph 8 Thereof. Civil Action No. T-316 in the District
Court of the United States for the District of Kansas.
In this document the defendants,
specifically the Board of Education of Topeka |