Brown+vs.+Board


 * SETTING THE STAGE** - **[|Participate in The Road to Justice activity] Were you successful? What did your learn in the activity (just think about it ....) **

** 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 slavery like segregation. Not fair for people.

** 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 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.

** 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 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 CHANGE IN THE COURT (leading to a decision) (check** [|**Link 1**] **)** What important change happened in the Supreme Court, and what was its impact?

Earl Warren got appointed as a Chief Justice. Under his leadership, he got the Supreme Court to unanimously overturn the Plessy case.

** 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 wrote the decision for the Court. He agreed with the civil rights attorneys that it was not clear whether the framers of the Fourteenth Amendment intended to permit segregated public education. The doctrine of separate but equal did not appear until 1896, he noted, and it pertained to transportation, not education. More importantly, he said, the present was at issue, not the past. 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 and due process under the Fifth Amendment.

**ENFORCING THE DECISION (discuss "with all deliberate speed) (Check [|Link 1] ** **)**   What was the Court's statement about the enforcement of the decision? What happened to the enforcement?

**THE IMPACT and LEGACY** **(Check** [|**Link 1**] **)** What is the overall importance and legacy of //Brown v. Board//?