Sample Annotated Bibliography – Project on “The History of Black Education in Missouri & Kansas”
Theme was “Rights & Responsibilities”
Primary Sources:
Brown v Board of Education I. May 17, 1954 in Harrison, Maureen and Steve Gilbert (ed). Schoolhouse Decisions of the
United States Supreme Court. San Diego, California: Excellent Books. 1997. pp 17-24.
Even though the book by Harrison & Gilbert is a secondary source, the majority opinion ruling of the US Supreme
Court in Brown v. Board of Education contained within it is primary.
Douglas, Stephen. March 3, 1854. Congressional Globe. p 338.
I used this as a primary source because it is the speech Stephen Douglas made on the floor of the US Senate
explaining the need for popular sovereignty. The resulting Kansas-Nebraska Act allowed the people in each
territory to vote on whether they wanted slavery or not. When Missourians crossed the line to vote in the Kansas
election, it was a violation of the rights of non-slave holding residents of Kansas. The resulting Lecompton
constitution organized Kansas under slavery. Douglas would later insist that the US government fulfill its
responsibility and new elections were held.
“The Fading Line.” Time. December 21, 1953. p 17.
This is a primary source because it includes interviews with clerks who work for the new Chief Justice Earl
Warren. It shows how his different style & philosophy will have an impact on the Brown decision.
Harlan, Justice John Marshall. Dissent in Plessy v Ferguson. 1896. US Supreme Court 163 U.S. 537 in Whitman, Mark
(ed). Removing a Badge of Slavery. Princeton: Markus Wiener Publishing, Inc. 1993. p 15.
I found this within a secondary source but since it gave the full text of the dissent by Justice Harlan, I have listed
that as a primary source.
Henderson, Cheryl Brown. Personal Interview. December 5, 2007.
Cheryl Brown is the sister of Linda Brown. She explained what her family went through in the original lawsuit
and explains the process she went through to get their elementary school turned into a National Historic Site.
Library of Congress. “Brown v Board of Education at 50: With an Even Hand.”
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/95505330
This online exhibit shows a 1947 photograph taken by photographer Gordon Parks of Dr. Kenneth Clark demonstrating the
“doll test”. This is primary because it was used as evidence at the trial.
Marshall, Thurgood. “Speech on Courthouse Steps after Brown decision announced.” May, 1954. NBC
documentary “The Struggle for School Integration first broadcast Oct 1, 2004 on NBC. Found at
http://www.blinkx.com/watch-video/the-struggle-for-school-integration/iU-nx9sfFrVUzaKJyysF_
This NBC documentary contains a clip of Thurgood Marshall’s speech on the steps of the Supreme Court
commenting on the significance of the Brown v Board of Education ruling in May, 1954. While the documentary
itself is useful as a secondary source to analyze the case, the clip of Thurgood Marshall is primary because it was
immediately after the decision was announced. I edited this down to 45 seconds to use on my website.
Plessy v Ferguson. May 18, 1896. US Supreme Court 163 U.S. 537 in Linder, Douglas. “Exploring Constitutional
Conflicts.” updated 1999. <www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/plessy.html>
This website by Prof Douglas Linder of UMKC Law School posts the full text of US Supreme Court decisions and
newspaper coverage of the time, along with original letters from the period & other documents. This is why I
listed it as a primary source. I used the court decision by the majority in Plessy v Ferguson to show how "separate
but equal" began. It also included many photographs of key people (Thurgood Marshall, Earl Warren, Linda
Brown) which I used on my website.
“South Reacts Quietly to High Court Ruling.” New York Times. June 1, 1955. p L++ column 5.
This is a primary source because it contained interviews with school and government officials in Southern states
talking about how their schools were complying the Brown decision.
Secondary Sources:
Brown v Board of Education National Historic Site. Topeka, KS. Personal visit February 11, 2006.
I was able to view and take photographs of several exhibits on the Brown decision & the events leading up to it.
The museum is located in the Monroe School, the contested school that the Browns wanted Linda to attend.
Brown v Board of Education Exhibit. Smithsonian Museum of History. Washington, DC. June 9, 2006.
At this exhibit I was able to take photographs of displays, documents, and memorabilia from the 5 schools and
separate cases that were to be combined as “Brown v Board of Education, et al.” This was perfect because I had a
lot of research on the 4 other cases but had no photographs to illustrate the segregation and inferior conditions of
those schools.
Fireside, Harvey and Sarah Betsy Fuller. Brown v Board of Education: Equal Schooling for All. NJ: Enslow Publishers.
1994. pp 6-9, 55-61.
This gives background on the Brown case and explains why the family wanted their daughter to go to a white
school instead of the all-black elementary she currently attended. It also provides several photographs relating to
the case and to the 4 other school desegregation cases involved.
“The Gaines Decision.” Commonweal. January 6, 1939. p 282.
This was an editorial written in a national magazine about the Gaines case. I included it as a secondary source
because it is evaluating the decision and was not written until the year after the decision was made.
Helmcamp, Caroline. “The Exodusters.” Missouri Geographic Alliance Web page. updated November, 2000. <
www.umsl.edu/~mga/exodust.htm>
This is a really interesting website that tells the story of blacks who moved from the South to Kansas & further
West after the Civil War. The Geographic Alliance has photographs , letters, statistics, & summaries of the
struggles that these blacks had to face after slavery.
Kluger, Richard. Simple Justice. NY: Alfred A Knopf. 1987. pp 367-424.
This book is one of the most famous studies of the Brown v Board of Education case and of events leading up to it.
It is a secondary source because it summarizes a lot of the testimony given during the trial and later appeal to the
Supreme Court but does not include actually trial transcripts. The author includes a lot of descriptive information
about what it was like in Kansas schools before & after the decision. There were also several useful photographs
showing conditions in the different schools before & after the decision.
“Those Who Challenged.” Brown v Board of Education Traveling Exhibit. Panel 8. Brown Foundation for Education
Equity, Excellence and Research. March 20, 1996. <brownvboard.org/trvlexbt/trvlexbt.htm>
This is a secondary source because even though it has several photographs of people involved, it is mostly a time
line and commentary on how blacks eventually won more rights, leading up to the Brown case. It does provide
several examples of challenges to Plessy v Ferguson before the famous 1954 case and shows that how early blacks
were trying to get equal education rights in Kansas.
Green – how to cite a historic site
Purple – how to cite an exhibit collection you viewed in person
Blue – how to cite a personal interview
Red – how to cite an on-line video
Brown – citations & references of photographs/visuals