Brown v. Topeka
Board of
Education, 1954
Background
• Linda Brown had to attend an all black school
over a mile from her home.
• An all-white school was just around the
corner from her house.
• Legal moves to get her into the local school
failed.
• Her case with a group of others went to the
Supreme Court of the United States. The
NAACP represented the Brown family.
The case for Linda Brown
• Thurgood Marshall (NAACP
lawyer) argued against
segregated education.
• He argued for integrated
education.
• He produced expert
witnesses: educationalists,
psychologists.
• They argued that segregation
created low self esteem
among black people.
The case was argued in the
Supreme Court
9 judges sit in the
Supreme Court.
They interpret the
Constitution.
The Brown case was decided
by the Warren Court
The decision
• Chief Justice Warren gave a verdict in
favour of the Browns’.
• He said that black people had not had
an equal chance in education.
• He said that segregation was not
acceptable – giving a feeling of
inferiority.
• Schools should be desegregated.
Significance
•
•
•
•
Set an important precedent.
Expectations of a major change.
Integration began.
There was progress, but quite slow.
The Brown Decision – a failure?
• Very slow progress – by 1957 less than 12%
of 6300 school districts in the south had been
integrated.
• Huge resistance in the south – argued for
state’s rights.
• Supreme Court was not clear about the
timetable for change. ‘Brown 2’ said ‘with all
deliberate speed’ (1955)
• Eisenhower did not act to enforce the verdict.
He could have done?