0
Brown v. Board of Education
Decided in 1954, Brown v. the Board of Education was a US Supreme Court case that took away a state's rights to segragate schools. It overturned an earlier case, Plessy v. Ferguson. This ruling allowed for school integration.
363 Questions
How did Georgia first react to the brown v board of education decision?
Georgia initially reacted to the Brown v. Board of Education decision with resistance and defiance. State leaders and officials expressed their opposition to the ruling, which mandated the desegregation of public schools. Governor Herman Talmadge and other officials advocated for maintaining segregation and even explored ways to circumvent the ruling. This response was part of a broader pattern of resistance to civil rights initiatives in the South during that era.
What did the attorney representing linda brown of topeka argue?
The attorney representing Linda Brown in the landmark case Brown v. Board of Education argued that racial segregation in public schools violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. He contended that segregated schools were inherently unequal and detrimental to the educational and psychological well-being of African American children. This argument emphasized that segregation perpetuated a sense of inferiority and hindered their opportunities for advancement. Ultimately, the case sought to dismantle the legal basis for racial segregation in education.
Yes, Chief Justice Earl Warren's opinion in Brown v. Board of Education was consistent with Justice Harlan's dissent in Plessy v. Ferguson. Both emphasized the principle that racial segregation inherently perpetuates inequality and undermines the dignity of African Americans. Harlan's dissent argued against the "separate but equal" doctrine, asserting that segregation is a form of racial discrimination. Warren's majority opinion in Brown effectively reinforced this viewpoint by declaring that separate educational facilities are inherently unequal, thus invalidating the foundation of segregation.
Dickens v. Johnson County Board of Education, 661 F. Supp. 155, 156 (E.D. Tenn. 1987)
Dickens was a federal case brought in US District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee, questioning whether the use of a "time out" box to isolate emotionally and educationally handicapped school children as a form of behavior modification was a violation of the students' substantive due process rights (liberty interest).
In this case, an educationally disabled student was subject to Level III discipline that consisted of being made to sit at a desk placed in the corner of the classroom for as long as an hour-and-a-half each day, surrounded on three sides by a refrigerator box that prevented him from viewing other students.
Although the student was not able to see classmates, he could hear them, was able to view the chalkboard and teacher, could participate in class activity, and could work on planned assignments. He was not restrained and was allowed to leave the time-out area at appropriate times. He was also monitored by school personnel.
The District Court held time-out was implemented in a reasonable way because it was not unduly harsh nor disproportionate to the misbehavior. The student was monitored, and was not deprived of basic rights to food, water, shelter, adequate heat and ventilation, nor exercise. He was also not deprived of his property interest because his education was continuous.
The courts have consistently held that de minimis (very limited) deprivations of liberty, such as time-outs, detentions, and brief in-school suspensions, by themselves, are insufficient to trigger Fourteenth Amendment Due Process concerns. According to the Dickens court, the student could be held for as long as an hour-and-a-half, for up to six consecutive days, without triggering a Goss procedure (parental notification and the right of a manifestation determination hearing).
The US Supreme Court decision in Goss v. Lopez, 419 US 565 (1965) is relevant to all students, but particularly to those with behavioral or educational disabilities who may experience Level III (time-out) consequences as a more frequent means of discipline. Goss held that students have certain due process rights that must be protected: 1) liberty rights, or a substantial degree of freedom from physical and psychological restraint or isolation; and 2) property rights, specifically including the right to a free public education.
Under Goss, a student may be suspended for as many as ten days, but his or her parents must be notified of the decision within 24 hours, have the right to appeal to the board of education, and must be allowed to speak at a meeting of the board. Parents of children who believe their constitutional rights have been violated may file suit in US District Court.
While Dickens has been cited as a persuasive authority in a number of cases, it is not binding on any courts. There is no established binding precedent or federal statutory prohibition against the use of restraint and isolation, in general, although the method applied must be appropriate, reasonable and not "shocking" to the conscience. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) encourages the use of positive intervention but does not prevent schools from using either restraint or isolation.
The US Supreme Court has yet to hear a case involving children in a special education environment, but agreed in Youngstown v. Romeo, 457 US 307 (1982), that mentally ill and mentally handicapped individuals in hospital settings have a liberty interest protected under the Fourteenth Amendment. The Court applied the "reasonableness standard," but declined to create guidelines for determining "reasonableness," deferring instead to professionals' judgment.
One of the most significant events of the civil rights movement prior to 1960 was the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955-1956. It started when Rosa Parks, an African American woman, refused to give up her bus seat to a white person. This action sparked a year-long boycott of the segregated bus system and led to the desegregation of buses in Montgomery, Alabama. The boycott became a powerful symbol and inspired further civil rights actions.
After Brown v. Board of Education did Linda Brown go to a white school?
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka was initiated at the federal court level in February 1951, when Linda Brown was in third grade, but was not decided by the U.S. Supreme Court until May 1954, when she was already enrolled for fall in Topeka's integrated middle school. Only the Topeka elementary schools were segregated at that time; the middle school had been integrated in 1941, and the high school had been integrated since it opened in 1871 (although it segregated the sports and social programs).
Linda's younger sisters benefited more directly from the ruling, and were able to attend the neighborhood school, Sumner Elementary, just as Linda had hoped to.
Brown v. Board of Education put an end to the concept of Black schools and White schools, by ruling that segregation in education was unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment. Although dismantling the old school systems took awhile, and met with resistance from some whites, African-American children began attending "integrated" schools.
Case Citation:
Brown v. Board of Education, 347 US 483 (1954)
For more information, see Related Questions, below.
He ordered schools in Washington, D.C., to be desegregated
Why was Kenneth Clark's doll study an important part of the Brown v. Board of Education case?
Brown v. Board of Education, 347 US 483 (1954)
Answer
Kenneth and Mamie Clark's doll study demonstrated that African-American children had internalized negative beliefs about themselves and their race due to the social stigma of segregation. The US Supreme Court used the results of the study to help support their decision to declare segregation in public schools unconstitutional under the Fourteenth Amendment Equal Protection Clause.
Explanation
Kenneth and Mamie Clerk were African-American psychologists who founded Harlem's Northside Center for Child Development. They conducted social and psychological research on African-American children during the civil rights movement.
In the late 1940s, the Clarks used a pair of black and white baby dolls to study African-American children's perceptions of their race. The study comprised two groups of Washington, DC school children: one group attended integrated schools; the other attended segregated schools.
In the experiment, African-American children aged six to nine were given the two dolls to play with. The Clarks noted 63% of the children preferred the white doll. When asked questions about which doll was good, and which doll was bad, most identified the white doll as "good" and the black doll as "bad." The last question Clark asked was which doll looked most like the children. Some of the children hesitated before choosing the black doll; others chose the white doll.
Next, the researchers asked the children to color a picture of themselves. Most chose colors significantly lighter than their actual skin tone. The Clarks concluded from these experiments that the children had internalized white society's negative stereotypes of African-Americans, damaging their self-image as worthwhile people.
The Clarks replicated their experiment using preschool children in South Carolina, achieving almost identical results. Robert Carter, NAACP counsel for the South Carolina case Briggs v. Elliot, one of the suits consolidated into Brown, presented the Clarks' research and expert testimony at trial in his case. Although the he lost before a three-judge panel in US District Court (the expected outcome), the powerful data was then able to be incorporated into Thurgood Marshall's argument before the US Supreme Court.
The doll study had a significant impact on the justices. In the opinion of the Court, Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote:
"...Such considerations apply with added force to children in grade and high schools. To separate them from others of similar age and qualifications solely because of their race generates a feeling of inferiority as to their status in the community that may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely ever to be undone."
and, quoting in part from the lower court case in Brown:
"Segregation of white and colored children in public schools has a detrimental effect upon the colored children. The impact is greater when it has the sanction of the law, for the policy of separating the races is usually interpreted as denoting the inferiority of the negro group. A sense of inferiority affects the motivation of a child to learn. Segregation with the sanction of law, therefore, has a tendency to [retard] the educational and mental development of negro children and to deprive them of some of the benefits they would receive in a racial[ly] integrated school system."
"Whatever may have been the extent of psychological knowledge at the time of Plessy v. Ferguson, this finding is amply supported by modern authority [referring to the Clarks' research]. Any language in Plessy v. Ferguson contrary to this finding is rejected."
The Court held that segregation was a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment Equal Protection Clause, and found it unnecessary to address the Due Process Clause because the Equal Protection Clause was sufficient to declare segregation in public schools unconstitutional.
For more information, see Related Questions, below.
Brown v. Board of Education
How would W E B Du Bois react to Brown v. Board of Education?
W. E. B. Du Bois had mixed feelings about desegregation, believing it should only be accomplished voluntarily because African-American children would be more likely to thrive in an environment where they were wanted and treated with respect. He perceived the "color line" as one of the obstacles that needed to be overcome in the 20th-century.
John Davis, who represented the respondents in Brown v. Board of Education, (1954), used Du Bois' words to defend school segregation:
"It is difficult to think of anything more important for the development of a people than proper training for their children; and yet I have repeatedly seen wise and loving colored parents take infinite pains to force their little children into schools where the white children, white teachers, and white parents despised and resented the dark child, make mock of it, neglected or bullied it, and literally rendered its life a living hell. Such parents want their children to "fight" this thing out-but, dear God, at what a cost!"
and
"We shall get a finer, better balance of spirit; an infinitely more capable and rounded personality by putting children in schools where they are wanted, and where they are happy and inspired, than in thrusting them into hells where they are ridiculed and hated."
But the African-American intellectual's views were much more complex than Davis painted them. He supported integration on a broader scale, but didn't want integration mandated by the government. Du Bois' concern was realistically related to how certain members of white society would treat African-Americans, particularly if they were forced to accept change rather than embracing it themselves.
In 1935, nearly 20 years before Brown, Du Bois wrote:
"A separate Negro school, where children are treated like human beings, trained by teachers of their own race, who know what it means to be black…is infinitely better than making our boys and girls doormats to be spit and trampled upon and lied to by ignorant social climbers, whose sole claim to superiority is ability to kick [n-word] when they are down."
On the other hand, Du Bois also wrote:
"Theoretically, the Negro needs neither segregated schools nor mixed schools. What he needs is Education.... Other things being equal, the mixed school is the broader, more natural basis for the education of all youth. It gives wider contacts; it inspires great self-confidence; and suppresses the inferiority complex. But other things seldom are equal, and in that case, Sympathy, Knowledge, and the Truth, outweigh all that the mixed school can offer."
*W.E.B.Du Bois, "Does the Negro Need Separate Schools?,"4 Journal of Negro Education 328-335 (July 1935).
For more information, see Related Questions, below.
What school was desegregated by the US Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education?
Although Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas(1954) may appear to refer specifically to one child and one school district (this was actually a consolidation of five separate cases sharing a single title), the U.S. Supreme Court ruling had an impact on education across the United States. Brown overturned an earlier Supreme Court ruling, Plessy v. Ferguson, (1896) that declared "separate but equal" was constitutional, and allowed for de jure (legal) segregation of most aspects of life, including education.
Plessy allowed school districts to send African-American children to all-black schools, while white children attended better, all-white schools. The Warren Court held that "separate but equal" was not equal because, even if facilities and materials were identical, segregation created an inherent sense of inferiority in African-Americans, and therefore violated the 14th Amendment Equal Protection Clause.
Because segregation was declared unconstitutional, all schools in the United States were affected by the decision in Brown v. Board of Education, (1954).
For more information on Brown v. Board of Education, see Related Questions, below.
Which civil rights issue was involved with brown v board of education?
The civil rights issue involved in Brown v Board of Education was whether "separate but equal" education systems were fair to African-American children.
Who was Chief Justice of the Supreme Court when Brown v. Board of Education was decided?
Chief Justice Fred Vinson lead the Court when the Brown petition was placed on the docket, but died in 1953, before the case could be resolved. Chief Justice Earl Warren succeeded Vinson and wrote the unanimous opinion for Brown v. Board of Education,(1954). Warren presided over many cases that expanded civil rights for African-Americans.
Case Citation:
Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954)
