Brown v. Board of Education

Interposition: means that a state of the U.S. may oppose any federal action it believes encroaches on its power

Nullification: refers to a U.S state refusing to enforce a federal law on Constitutional grounds.

Their historical significance can be traced back to the Brown v. Board of Education trial, where the Supreme Court declared that racial segregation in public schools violated the Equal Protection clause of the 14th Amendment. In response to this case, State legislatures from Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Virginia adopted resolutions of "interposition and nullification," where they could oppose the ruling and refuse to enforce the desegregation of public schools.

Brown vs Board of Education is one of our nation's landmark court cases that was heard by the Supreme Court and the judgement handed down in 1954 that stated that separate public school systems (or educational facilities) for black students and white students is in fact not equal (unequal). I believe that you are asking more about the origin of the case and so I will try to shed some light on that as well. As far as I can understand things, the Brown vs Board of Education decision was larger a decision that came about from the intense years that took place prior to the case which were riddled with a firm belief of the idea of segregation. Initially the case of Plessy vs Ferguson in 1896 was grounds for a lot of the belief that segregation was indeed justifiable through its finding/decision that as long as the two races had separate but ultimately equal facilities to divide them, there was no violation of the Fourteenth Amendment through the practice of segregation (14th Amendment simply stated that no person/citizen could be unfairly treated in any legal aspect, basically it was set in place to give both black and white people the same rights---also know as the Equal Protection Clause). Now if you truly look deeper into the entire issue of segregation and equal rights among the races, there is also the matter of the Dread Scott decision which even before the equal rights initiatives took place the Scott decision boldly declared that black people residing in the nation were not citizens and could never become citizens, and ultimately that meant that they were not afforded the same rights or benefits of citizenship as others could. In that time period one has to realize that our nation was in the process of not only adjusting to the notion of slavery being over but also people were still learning how to even live among one another with a still very divided set of laws, rights, and beliefs.

I would go further into details about all of the elements that play a part in the years prior to the Brown vs Board decision, but if I did so it would probably take a lot more time and space up that ultimately might not give you a better understanding but just seem like a bunch of extra info not relevant to the question at hand. If I can help further please let me know.

Thanks and hope I helped,

onenonlycasper aka austin j.h.

The US Supreme Court heard the consolidated cases of Brown v. Board of Education on direct appeal from the US District Courts, bypassing the US Court of Appeals Circuit Courts, so there was no decision at the intermediate appellate level.

Case Citation:

Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954)

See Related Questions, below, to read about the Supreme Court decision.

Brown v. Board of Education, 347 US 483 (1954)

Brown was argued twice: once in 1952, then again in 1953 after Chief Justice Vinson died and was succeeded by Chief Justice Earl Warren. In 1952, the Respondent's attorney, John Davis argued the following:

• Congress established segregated schools in the District of Columbia (which is under federal control) before, during and after ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment, demonstrating those who initiated the Amendment did not intend it to prohibit segregation. Further, of the 30 states that had ratified the Amendment when it was adopted in 1868, 23 maintained segregated schools.
• The issue of desegregation should be a political question (left to Congress), not a judicial one.
• The Court's own precedents supported the "separate but equal" doctrine many times since the Plessy v. Ferguson, (1896) decision. (Davis cited: "...Cumming v. Richmond County Board of Education, Gong Lum v. Rice, Berea College v. Kentucky, Sipuel v. Board of Regents, Gaines v. Canada, Sweatt v. Painter, and McLaurin v. Oklahoma, and there may be others for all I know, certainly this Court has spoken in the most clear and unmistakable terms to the effect that this segregation is not unlawful. Cumming v. Richmond County Board of Education, Gong Lum v. Rice, Berea College v. Kentucky, Sipuel v. Board of Regents, Gaines v. Canada, Sweatt v. Painter, and McLaurin v. Oklahoma, and there may be others for all I know, certainly this Court has spoken in the most clear and unmistakable terms to the effect that this segregation is not unlawful.")
• Davis claimed the Clark's doll test was unscientific, and discussed a replication of their study conducted by another expert witness, identified only as Trager, who conducted the test on Philadelphia school children in integrated schools and found their preference for the white doll and belief that the African-American doll was bad was more extreme than the opinions of the Southern, segregated children.
• Davis quoted the opinion of W. E. B. Dubois, an African-American intellectual who opposed desegregation: "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!"

  He goes on:

  "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."

• Parents should have an opportunity to be consulted and determine whether they wanted their children in an integrated school.

In 1953, Davis added the following arguments:

• Some southern school districts (for example, Clarendon, SC) were predominantly black and enjoyed newer schools and better facilities than the minority white population.
• Integration would create a situation in that district where the classes were integrated 27:3, with the majority African-American, which he didn't believe would be useful to anyone.
• Race and racial tensions had existed for "some 60 centuries," an argument he used to deny segregation was caused by, or reinforced, racism.
• Individual states and school boards should be allowed to determine for themselves whether to integrate, because they had a better understanding of community-level issues.

Public schools were gradually desegregated, or integrated.

This didn't happen as quickly as some people believe because the order for desegregation wasn't formulated until the year after the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision, in Brown v. Board of Education II, 349 US 294 (1955).

In Brown II, the Supreme Court declined to set a firm deadline for desegregation, so many school districts, particularly in the South, delayed making changes for years, petitioned the court for exception and extensions, and attempted to circumvent the order by redistricting. A few cities, like Little Rock, Arkansas, openly defied the Supreme Court, allowing bigoted members of the community to block integration with intimidation and threats of violence.

President Eisenhower responded to the crisis in Little Rock by sending a National Guard troop to protect the nine African-American students enrolled at the "white" high school, but otherwise did little to enforce the Court's decision.

Desegregation didn't begin in earnest until Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Case Citation:

Brown v. Board of Education, 347 US 483 (1954)

For more information, see Related Questions, below.

Brown v. Board of Education, (1954) was initiated in 1950, in Topeka, Kansas, and moved through the lower courts for two years before the Supreme Court granted plaintiffs' petition for writ of certiorari on October 8, 1952. The Court combined Brown with a South Carolina school segregation case, Briggs et al. v. Elliott et al., and noted there were additional cases in appellate court that were likely to be added later (two more were added, for a total of four; a fifth case was heard separately because it concerned segregation in the District of Columbia, federal territory).

The four cases consolidated underBrown:

Brown v. Board of Education, 347 US 483 (1954) (Kansas)

Briggs v. Elliot (South Carolina)*

Davis v. County Board of Education of Prince Edward County (Virginia)

Gebhart v. Belton (Delaware)

Companion case, heard separately:

Bolling v. Sharpe, 347 US 497 (1954)

*Briggs v. Elliot, 342 US 350 (1952) originally came before the court in 1952, but the decision was vacated and the case remanded back to US District Court for disposition.

Thurgood Marshall, Chief Counsel for the NAACP, first argued the case on December 9, 1952, but was compelled to repeat his argument a year later, on December 8, 1953, because the Justices required the lawyers write briefs of their opinions on whether Congress had intended the Constitution to provide for segregated schools.

Chief Justice Earl Warren delivered the court's unanimous verdict on May 17, 1954, declaring segregation in education a violation of the students' 14th Amendment guarantee of Equal Protection under the law.

Case Citation:

Brown v. Board of Education, 347 US 483 (1954)