Getting Away With Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case
Getting Away With Murder:
The True Story of the
Emmett Till Case
Reading Guide
Mary Dooms
7th Grade
Lake Zurich Middle School South
1
Getting Away With Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case
Reading Guide
Tea Party Pre-Reading Activity
3-4
Anticipatory Questions Pre-Reading Activity
5
Introduction (4:05)* and Ch. 1 (16:17)* Questions
6-8
Ch. 2 (10:03)* Questions and in-class activities
9-10
Ch. 3 (17:29)* Questions and in-class activities
11-14
Ch. 4 (25:04)* Questions and in-class activities
15-16
Ch. 5 (17:23)* Questions and in-class activities
17-19
Ch. 6 (29:04)* Questions and in-class activities
20-22
Ch. 7 (16:57)* Questions and in-class activities
23-24
End of Unit Summative Assessments
25
Beginnings of the Answer Key
26-32
Background Summary: Brown vs. Board of
Education
33-34
For background on Jim Crow laws, see the
Perfection Learning title:
Wright, Richard. "Surviving Jim Crow." Literature &
Thought: Free at Last: The Struggle for Civil Rights
2000: 25-27.
*Time required to read aloud by a fluent reader
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Getting Away With Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case
Tea Party Pre-Reading Activity 1
Make enough copies of the following statements so that every student has one. Hand out the
slips to students. Allow ten minutes for students to meet with other students to share their
statements. When time is up, place students into small groups to write a “We think the book is
about…” statement.
♦
School should have introduced me to this landmark civil rights event, but it didn’t.
♦
…his face and head horribly disfigured.
♦
Most white Americans have never heard of him.
♦
Most African Americans know well his story and its place in history.
♦
The brazen murder of a boy by two white men was the last straw in centuries of racial
oppression and abuse.
♦
“A little nobody who shook up the world.”
♦
“A little nobody who shook up the world.”
♦
It was after 2:00A.M. when the killers’ car…coasted to a stop on the gravel road.
♦
The boy didn’t know what he was doing. Don’t take him.
♦
The boy didn’t know what he was doing. Don’t take him.
♦
The viewing of his disfigured corpse at the Rainer Funeral Home…attracted more than
ten thousand mourners.
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Getting Away With Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case
We think the book is about…
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Getting Away With Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case
Anticipatory Questions Pre-Reading Activity 2
Indicate with an “A” or a “D” whether you agree or disagree with the following statements.
_____1. The textbook is a good source of historical information.
_____2. If an event was important it would be found in the textbook.
_____3. A Native American or African American’s version of U.S. History is the same as the white
man’s.
_____4. A teenager can change the course of history.
_____5. Justice prevails.
_____6. Impulsive behavior can lead to trouble.
_____7. Peer pressure is difficult to handle.
_____8. It’s OK for states to have different laws regarding individual rights.
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Getting Away With Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case
Introduction (pp. 11-13)
1. Who was Emmett Till and what happened to him?
Chapter 1 (pp.15-26)
The Boy Who Triggered the Civil Rights Movement
Vocabulary
♦ Sharecropper
♦ Jim Crow laws
♦ Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka
♦ Lynching
1. Who knocked on the door of Mose Wright?
2. What did the men want?
3. What did a fisherman find 3 days later?
4. Respond to the following statement: Brown vs. Board of Education gets in the way of
maintaining the Southern lifestyle. Answer here or use the It Says—I Say—And So chart on
the next page.
Strongly disagree
disagree
agree
strongly agree
Explain:
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Getting Away With Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case
Alternative method for answering questions 4 and 9.
It Says—I Say—And So
Question/Statement
It Says
I Say
And So
1. Read the question/statement.
2. Find information from
the text that will help you
answer the question.
3. Think about what you
know about that
information.
4. Combine what the text says
with what you know to come up
with the response.
Example
Why did Goldilocks break Baby Bear’s
chair?
Story says she sits down in
the baby chair, but she is
no baby.
Baby chairs aren’t very big
because they’re for babies
and she is bigger and so
she weighs more.
And so she is too heavy for the chair
and it breaks.
4. Brown vs. Board of
Education gets in the way of
maintaining the Southern
lifestyle.
9. How could testimony,
evidence, and confession still
not be enough to convict
Bryant and Milam?
5. There is no difference between a lynching and a murder.
Strongly disagree
disagree
agree
strongly agree
Explain
6. Did the governor of Mississippi say Emmett’s killing was murder or lynching? Why did he
choose the word he did?
7. Describe the spectator turnout and media attention during the trial.
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Getting Away With Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case
8. Why did the trial capture worldwide attention?
9. How could testimony, evidence, and confession still not be enough to convict Bryant and
Milam? Answer here or use the It Says—I Say—And So chart on the previous page.
10. What message did the jury’s decision send?
11. How did media attention to the trial and acquittal help the civil rights movement?
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Getting Away With Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case
Chapter 2 (pp. 17-36)
Kicking the Hornet’s Nest
1. What does the title of Chapter 2 mean?
2. Complete the table regarding life in Chicago vs. life in the South.
Life in Chicago
Life in the South
3. What did some Southern states do in anticipation of the Supreme Court’s decision?
4. What did Tom Brady’s speech and book emphasize?
5. What did Brady predict would happen if the mixing of races was allowed?
6. In what ways did the Jim Crow laws affect Blacks?
7. What were the three “mistakes” Emmett committed?
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Getting Away With Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case
Chapter 2
In-class activities
♦
Full page ad promoting Tom Brady’s book/speech.
♦
Full page ad criticizing Tom Brady’s book/speech.
♦
Political cartoon criticizing Jim Crow laws.
♦
Political cartoon promoting Jim Crow laws.
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Getting Away With Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case
Chapter 3 (pp. 37-49)
The Boy from Chicago
1. Identify two important events that happened to Emmett during the first five years of his
life.
2. Between 1900 and 1950 Blacks moved north in what is termed the “Great Migration”.
Why?
3. What three qualities did Emmett’s friends like about him?
4. Emmett is…
Lazy
Helpful
Explain:
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Getting Away With Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case
5. Allowing Emmett to go to Mississippi was a wise decision. Answer here or use the It
Says—I Say—And So chart on below.
Strongly disagree
disagree
agree
strongly agree
Explain:
Alternative method for answering question 5.
It Says—I Say—And So
Question/Statement
It Says
I Say
And So
1. Read the question/statement.
2. Find information from
the text that will help you
answer the question.
3. Think about what you
know about that
information.
4. Combine what the text says
with what you know to come up
with the response.
Why did Goldilocks break Baby Bear’s
Chair?
Story says she sits down in
the baby chair, but she is
no baby.
Example
Baby chairs aren’t very big
because they’re for babies
and she is bigger and so
she weighs more.
And so she is too heavy for the chair
and it breaks.
Allowing Emmett to go to
Mississippi was a wise
decision.
6. Describe in detail how Emmett entertained himself, his cousin, and the local kids in
Money, Mississippi.
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Getting Away With Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case
Chapter 3
In-class activities
♦
Capture the idea of the Great Migration into a newspaper headline and first two
sentences of a news story.
♦
Draw a classmate’s name from a hat. Identify three qualities you admire about him/her.
Don’t identify who it is. See if we can guess.
♦
Identify two important events that have happened in your life.
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Getting Away With Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case
Chapter 4 (pp. 50-69)
The Wolf Whistle
Causal Relationships/Sequencing Events
Complete the following table.
Something happened
Emmett and cousins are restless in church.
So this occurred
a)
Emmett brags about Chicago life and his
“success” with women.
b)
A Black man gets too friendly with a white
woman…
c) So…
d)
So the friend grabs Emmett and pushes him
out the door.
Mrs. Bryant is furious at Emmett’s rudeness
e) So…
“How did you like the lady in the store?”
f)
g)
So Emmett and family think the Incident is
forgotten.
h)
So Roy confronts wife.
Wife begs Roy to forget about it.
i)
So…
Roy and J.W. force Mose to the back bedroom.
j)
So…
k)
So something wrapped in a tarp is loaded in a
truck.
Emmett still shows no remorse for what he had
done at Bryant’s Market.
l)
m)
So…Curtis Jones ends up calling the police.
Emmett’s mother calls the media.
n) So…
The phone calls work.
o) So…
So…
So…
p)
So…Hodges finds Emmett’s body.
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Getting Away With Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case
The body is so badly mutilated…
q) So…
Sheriff arranges for quick burial.
r)
“Let the people see what they did to my boy.”
s) So…
t)
So the news enrages people across the nation.
Grand jury indicts Bryant and Milam.
u) So people question…
So…
1. Emmett’s Mississippi friends and cousins are partly responsible for his murder.
Strongly disagree
disagree
agree
strongly agree
Explain:
Alternative method for answering question 1.
Question/Statement
It Says
I Say
And So
1. Read the
question/statement.
2. Find information from
the text that will help you
answer the question.
3. Think about what you
know about that
information.
4. Combine what the text
says with what you know
to come up with the
response.
Example
Why did Goldilocks break
Baby Bear’s Chair?
Story says she sits down in
the baby chair, but she is
no baby.
Baby chairs aren’t very big
because they’re for babies
and she is bigger and so
she weighs more.
And so she is too heavy for
the chair and it breaks.
Emmett’s Mississippi
friends and cousins
are partly responsible
for his murder.
2. Emmett is…
Foolish and Bold
Sensible and Shy
Explain:
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Getting Away With Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case
Chapter 4
In-class activities
♦
Whole class: brainstorm possible dares. In triads, plan and perform a brief skit where one
of you is dared, that person followed through on the dare, and the consequences.
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Getting Away With Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case
Chapter 5 (pp. 70-83)
Setting the Stage
1. Identify the reactions to the announcement of the murder indictment.
Individual/group
Reaction
Roy Wilkins, head of the NAACP
Civil rights supporters
Mayor of Chicago
Emmett’s mother
Robert Patterson, founder of the
White Citizens’ Council
Mississippi Governor, Hugh White
Local sheriffs’ offices
2. At first many townspeople supported a conviction of Bryant and Milam. Why did public
opinion change?
3. How did Bryant and Milam’s attorneys know their clients would be acquitted (found not
guilty)?
4. According to J.J. Breland, what three things did the state have to prove?
5. Why were the jurors’ minds already made up?
6. The author gives credit to the state of Mississippi for setting up a fair trial. Explain.
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Getting Away With Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case
7. The prosecuting attorney said he would not seek the death penalty. Why would that
statement help create a fair and impartial jury?
8. Explain the problem with jury selection as it relates to Mississippi state law.
9. React to the following statement: “A nigger congressman?” he exclaimed. “Hell, that ain’t
even legal.”
10. Two eyewitnesses to Emmett’s murder were “not available to testify”. Explain the Sheriff’s
role.
11. Why did other witnesses fail to testify?
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Getting Away With Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case
Chapter 5
In-class activities
♦
Justice political cartoons: Sheriff’s role in lock up the witnesses, judge’s role in creating a
fair trial.
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Getting Away With Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case
Chapter 6 (pp. 84-106)
Getting Away With Murder
1. “I wasn’t exactly brave and I wasn’t scared. I just wanted to see justice done.” Who made
this statement and why was he courageous?
2. What was Sheriff George Smith’s testimony?
Sheriff Smith, Sheriff Smith, what did you say?
Roy B. Roy B., then what did you say to Smith?
3. Summarize Chester Miller’s testimony.
Chester Miller, Chester Miller, what did you see?
Chester Miller, Chester Miller, what else did you see?
Chester Miller, Chester Miller, why did you become
confused and distracted?
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Getting Away With Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case
4. Summarize Mamie Till Bradley’s testimony.
Emmett’s mom, Emmett’s mom, how were you
poised?
Emmett’s mom, Emmett’s mom, how were you treated
in court?
Emmett’s mom, Emmett’s mom, what did you say?
Emmett’s mom, Emmett’s mom, what did you insist?
Emmett’s mom, Emmett’s mom, what did you still
insist?
Emmett’s mom, Emmett’s mom, what did you say
years later?
5. Summarize Willie Reed’s testimony.
Willie Reed, Willie Reed, what did you have?
Willie Reed, Willie Reed, what did you lack?
Willie Reed, Willie Reed, what did you say?
Willie Reed, Willie Reed, what did you hear?
Willie Reed, Willie Reed, what did you NOT see?
Willie Reed, Willie Reed, where did you go after your
testimony?
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Getting Away With Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case
6. Sheriff Smith, Deputy Sheriff Cothran, and Mose Wright all testified that Roy Bryant and
J.W. Milam kidnapped Emmett. Why wasn’t that enough to convict?
7. Summarize Carolyn Bryant’s testimony.
8. Summarize Sheriff Strider’s testimony.
9. What did Clotye Murdock Larsson question about Strider’s testimony? Was it a rational,
logical question? Why or why not?
10. What were Bryant’s and Milam’s mannerisms during Chatham’s closing argument?
11. What does the following statement mean: “ A man deals with a child accordingly as a
child, not as a man to a man.”
12. The speech that defense attorney Whitten gave argued what?
13. What did defense attorney Carlton emphasize?
14. How long did the jury deliberate and what was its finding?
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Getting Away With Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case
Chapter 7 (pp. 107-121)
Aftershocks
1. Although the jury found Bryant and Milam not guilty, the end of racial discrimination in the
South was near. Why?
2. Protest rallies continued after the trial ended. Identify the three cities and the numbers of
people who gathered in each city.
3. How did the national press take up the cause of civil rights?
4. In your own words what did author William Faulkner have to say about Emmett’s murder
and trial?
5. Why did Emmett’s murder gather so much support to end segregation?
6. How did Emmett’s murder contribute to Rosa Park’s determination to not give up her seat
on the Montgomery city bus?
7. After the trial, what caused Bryant and Milam to lose money in their businesses?
8. What did Bryant and Milam do to raise money for their businesses?
9. Describe what Bryant and Milam said to the magazine reporter.
10. What impact did the Look magazine article have on the civil rights movement?
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Getting Away With Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case
11. What was life like for Bryant and Milam after the trial and magazine article?
12. Emmett’s mom said, “When something happened to the Negroes in the South, I said,
‘That’s their business, not mine.’ Now I know how wrong I was. The murder of my son
has shown me that what happens to any of us, anywhere in the world, had better be the
business of us all.” What does she mean and what example in today’s world could her
statement be compared to?
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Getting Away With Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case
Assessment
75 Points
Role
Audience
Format
Topic
Sheriff George Smith
A news reporter doing
a story
The justice system
Mamie Till Bradley
Special session of
Congress
Written speech using
the literary technique
of repetition
Written speech using
the literary technique
of repetition
Roy Bryant
School children ten
years from now.
Guest editorial in a
major newspaper.
Judge Swango
A group supporting
integration
Video/power point
documentary.
Political
cartoonist/courtroom
sketch artist
Singer/songwriter
Newspaper readers
Set of drawings with
detailed captions
Radio listeners
Protest song
Brown vs. Board of
Ed. and the southern
states’ desire to
remain segregated,
testimony throughout
the trial
Emmett’s contribution
to the civil rights
movement.
The southern way of
life (Jim Crow laws,
white supremacy) and
the gradual
acceptance of
integration
The murder and trial
of Emmett Till
Choose one role, audience, format, and topic. Consider everything you have learned from this
book that is related to the topic you chose. Include it in the format. As you prepare your format
keep in mind your role and audience.
The grade will be based on a thorough understanding of the topic as well as how well you
communicated your understanding. The grade is not based on the length of the project—See
rubric.
Information-Based Rubric
4
3
2
1
0
The student has a complete and detailed understanding of the information
important to the topic.
The student has complete understanding of the information important to the
topic but not in great detail.
The student has an incomplete understanding of the topic and/or
misconceptions about some of the information. However, the student
maintains a basic understanding of the topic.
The student’s understanding of the topic is so incomplete or has so many
misconceptions that the student cannot be said to understand the topic.
No judgment can be made.
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Getting Away With Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case
♦
Possible short answer/essay questions for end of Unit.
Of the 21 U. S. history books the authored surveyed, only two mentioned Emmett Till, for a
combined total of less than 50 words to describe his place in American history.
In what ways was Emmett’s visit to Mississippi a wise decision?
Emmett Till should be mentioned in every textbook.
Strongly disagree
disagree
agree
strongly agree
Explain
Below are questions taken from previous chapters.
Sending Emmett to Mississippi was a wise decision.
Strongly disagree
disagree
agree
strongly agree
Explain
Emmett’s Mississippi friends and cousins are partly responsible for his murder.
Strongly disagree
disagree
agree
strongly agree
Explain:
In-class activities
Turn chapters into headlines.
How can this information help people?
How can this information save lives?
How can this information be used in our society?
How has this information changed my thinking?
How could you use this information to improve something in the world?
Personal connections:
What have you been dared to do? How did you feel? What did you do and what did you think
afterwards?
How was your situation the same? Different?
What have you learned about yourself by studying this event?
How is your family the same as or different from Emmett’s? Do you live in a single parent home?
Do you have many more responsibilities than your friends/peers? Has your family experienced
tragedy? Do you know of any family that is similar to Emmett’s?
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Getting Away With Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case
Introduction KEY
1. Who was Emmett Till and what happened to him?
Chapter 1 KEY
The Boy Who Triggered the Civil Rights Movement
Vocabulary
♦ Sharecropper
♦ Jim Crow laws
♦ Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka
1. Who knocked on the door of Mose Wright?
Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam.
2. What did the men want?
They wanted Emmett.
3. What did a fisherman find 3 days later?
Emmett’s body in the Tallahatchie River.
4. Brown vs. Board of Education gets in the way of maintaining the Southern
lifestyle.
Strongly disagree
disagree
agree
strongly agree
Explain
5. There is no difference between a lynching and a murder.
Strongly disagree
disagree
agree
strongly agree
Explain
6. Did the governor of Mississippi say Emmett’s killing was murder or lynching?
Why did he choose the word he did?
7. Describe the spectator turnout and media attention during the trial.
8. Why did the trial capture worldwide attention?
Jet magazine photo and gruesome details of the murder made it more than just another
Southern lynching, nature of the crime, the reason for kidnapping and killing (whistling
and ugly remarks) made it big news. NAACP and Medgar Evars were fighting for equal
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Getting Away With Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case
rights for blacks in the South, murder indictment was a landmark event (first time a white
was charged with killing a Black).
9. How could testimony, evidence, and confession still not be enough to convict
Bryant and Milam?
10. What message did the jury’s decision send?
11. How did media attention to the trial and acquittal help the civil rights movement?
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Getting Away With Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case
Chapter 2 KEY
Kicking the Hornet’s Nest
1. What does the title of Chapter 2 mean?
2. Complete the table regarding life in Chicago vs. life in the South.
Life in Chicago
Life in the South
3. What did some Southern states do in anticipation of the Supreme Court’s decision?
4. Suspend education requirement law in order to avoid using state money to educate
Blacks.
5. What did Tom Brady’s speech and book emphasize?
6. What did Brady predict would happen if the mixing of races were allowed?
7. Why would Brady suggest school integration was a Communist-inspired plot? (Think
about the era in which these events occurred).
8. In what ways did the Jim Crow laws affect Blacks?
9. What were the three “mistakes” Emmett committed?
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Getting Away With Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case
Chapter 3 KEY
The Boy from Chicago
1. Emmett lived during a time where events and inventions permanently influenced
American life. Research two of the following and describe its influence on American life.
♦ The first atomic bomb
♦ Establishment of Israel as an independent country
♦ The GI Bill
♦ McDonald’s
♦ Integration of Major League Baseball
2. Identify two important events that happened to Emmett during the first five years of his
life.
3. Between 1900 and 1950 Blacks moved north in what is termed the “Great Migration”.
Why?
4. What three qualities did Emmett’s friends like about him?
Sense of humor, easygoing personality, ability to keep peace.
5.
Emmett is…
Lazy
Helpful
Explain:
6. Sending Emmett to Mississippi was a wise decision.
Strongly disagree
disagree
agree
strongly agree
Explain
7. Describe in detail how Emmett entertained himself, his cousin, and the local kids in
Money, Mississippi.
(page 48-49)
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Getting Away With Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case
Chapter 4 KEY
The Wolf Whistle
Causal Relationships
Complete the cause effect table for this chapter
Cause
Emmett and cousins are restless in church
Emmett brags about Chicago life.
If a Black man gets too friendly with a white
woman…
Emmett says, “I’ve been with white women
before…Bye, baby.”
Mrs. Bryant is furious at Emmett’s rudeness
“How did you like the lady in the store?”
No threats are heard from the Bryants or other
whites the next few nights.
Roy Bryant learns of the “talk at the store”.
Wife begs Roy to forget about it.
Roy and J.W. force Mose to the back bedroom
Emmett is beaten in a shed.
Emmett still shows no remorse for what he had
done at Bryant’s Market.
Mose Wright says he can’t call the police
because the Bryant’s will kill everyone in the
house.
Emmett’s mother calls the media.
The phone calls work.
Robert Hodges fishes in Tallahatchie River.
The body is badly mutilated.
Sheriff arranges for quick burial.
“Let the people see what they did to my boy.”
Jet magazine publishes article and pictures of
Emmett.
Grand jury indicts Bryant and Milam.
Effect
The boys go to Bryant’s Grocery and Meat
Market
Friend tells Emmett to …”get a date,” with the
white women who works in the store.
The Black is taught a lesson.
Friend grabs Emmett and pushes him out the
door after Emmett says this.
She runs out the door to grab a pistol in the
car.
Emmett responds to the question with a wolf
whistle.
Emmett and family think the Incident is
forgotten.
Roy confronts wife.
Roy doesn’t; plans a visit to Emmett’s uncle.
Take Emmett to the car and drive off.
Something wrapped in a tarp is loaded in a
truck.
Milam make’s up his mind to kill Emmett.
Curtis Jones ends up calling the police.
Newspapers, television, and radio stations
latch onto the story.
Sheriff Smith arrests Roy Bryant for
kidnapping.
Hodges finds Emmett’s body.
Mose Wright is only able to make a positive
identification of the body based on a silver ring
worn by Emmett.
Emmett’s mother arranges for body to be
returned to Chicago.
Emmett’s mother has an open casket viewing.
Murder enrages people across the nation
People question…Could justice be done in one
of the most notoriously raciest states in
America?
1. Emmett’s Mississippi friends and cousins are partly responsible for his murder.
Strongly disagree
disagree
agree
strongly agree
Explain:
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Getting Away With Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case
2. Emmett is…
Foolish and Bold
Sensible and Shy
Explain:
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Getting Away With Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case
Background Summary Brown vs. Board of Education
In Topeka, Kansas in the 1950s, schools were
segregated by race. Each day, Linda Brown and
her sister, Terry Lynn, had to walk through a
dangerous railroad switchyard to get to the bus
stop for the ride to their all-black elementary
school. There was a school closer to the Brown's
house, but it was only for white students.
Topeka was not the only town to experience
segregation. Segregation in schools and other
public places was common throughout the South
and elsewhere. This segregation based on race
was legal because of a landmark Supreme Court
case called Plessy v. Ferguson, which was
decided in 1896. In that case, the Court said that
as long as segregated facilities were equal in
quality segregation did not violate the Constitution.
However, the Brown's disagreed. Linda Brown and her family believed that the
segregated school system did violate the Constitution. In particular, they believed that
the system violated the Fourteenth Amendment guaranteeing that people will be treated
equally under the law.
No State shall . . . deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the
laws.
—Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution
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Getting Away With Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
(NAACP) helped the Browns. Thurgood Marshall was the attorney who
argued the case for the Browns. He would later become a Supreme
Court justice.
The case was first heard in a federal district court, the lowest court in the federal system.
The federal district court decided that segregation in public education was harmful to
black children. However, the court said that the all-black schools were equal to the allwhite schools because the buildings, transportation, curricula, and educational
qualifications of the teachers were similar; therefore the segregation was legal.
The Browns, however, believed that even if the facilities were similar, segregated
schools could never be equal to one another. They appealed their case to the Supreme
Court of the United States. The Court combined the Brown's case with other cases from
South Carolina, Virginia, and Delaware. The ruling in the Brown v. Board of Education
case came in 1954.
34