Lesson 12: 1954 Brown V Board of Education Flashcards
Who challanged the state of Kansas on their education laws?
Oliver Brown, a church minister with the support of the NAACP
Why did Oliver Brown challenge the state of Kansas?
His 8 year old daughter travelled 20 blocks to an all black school whilst the white school was only 5 blocks away in Topeka.
Which NAACP lawyer helped Brown go to court?
Thurgood Marshall
Why was there a good chance of success in Kansas?
Because it wasn’t a southern state therefore less racist
What did Thurgood Marshall argue in court?
That segregation went against the 14th Amendment
What was the outcome of the case?
Supreme Court came to the conclusion that separate education was psychologically harmful for black children
Which 2 men in positions of power supported the black cause?
President Harry Truman (1945-53) showed support for black equality
Chief Justice Earl Warren persuaded fellow justices to support integration for 5 months
Which president did not support integration of schools?
Eisenhower (1953-61)
What did the psychological experiment of 10 black South Carolina children chosing white rather than black dolls in a test, prove to the supreme court?
That segregated schools produced inferiority complexes
How many school desegregated in the urban south within a year of the court ruling?
70% of schools
What was the failure of the Brown V Boards of Education case?
No date was given by the supreme court in which desegregation had to be done
Was desegregation implemented in the Deep South?
No schools remained segregated (Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana)
White campaigners in Virginia closed schools instead
What was formed in the South to try and keep segregation in schools?
White Citizens’ Councils
By 1956 they had 250,000
They challanged desegregation plans in the law courts
What kind of segregation still existed?
De Facto segregation
