BROWN V. BOARD OF EDUCATION

Emily Cooksey

A Little History

1865 Civil War ends 13th Amendment abolishes slavery

1866 Founding of the Ku Klux Klan

1868 14th Amendment ratified

Grants equal protection under the law and citizenship to ALL persons born in the United States

1870 15th Amendment ratified

African American men have the right to vote 1881

First "Jim Crow" laws

A Little More History

1896 Plessy v. Ferguson

Separate Car Act Segregated "separate but equal" intrastate public

transportation was constitutional. Led to even further segregation, especially in the South

1939 Clark Doll Tests

1949-1951 NAACP initiates 5 cases against school segregation in

different states 1954

Brown v. Board of Education

Life in the 1940’s

Life in the 1940’s

Economic Share cropping If they could find a wage/salary job:

Equal pay for teachers?

Life in the 1940’s

Educational $179 per white vs. $43 per black 61 black schools (6,531 pupils) total value

$194,575 12 white schools (2,375 pupils) total value

$673,850 35% over age ten illiterate

Life in the 1940’s

Political Voting

Literacy tests Poll Tax

Jim Crow Laws/ Etiquette Examples

Illegal to have whites and blacks in the same room, unless they were separated by a 7 foot or higher wall.

Under no circumstance was a Black male to offer to light the cigarette of a white female

Blacks were not allowed to show public affection because it offended whites

A dozen black men were lynched a month

Life in the 1940’s

Personal Accounts Muhammad Ali

Olympic Gold Medalist in Boxing Jackie Robinson

First Black man in Major League Baseball Tuskegee Airmen

First black pilots

Clark Doll Test

Clark Doll Test

Dr. Kenneth Clark and Mamie Clark Stereotypes and children's self-perception in

relation to their race. Black children ages 6-9 were shown two dolls, one

white and the other black Show me the doll that you like best or that you would

like to play with. Show me the doll that is the 'nice' doll. Show me the doll that looks 'bad.‘ Give me the doll that looks like a white child. Give me the doll that looks like a colored child. Give me the doll that looks like you.

Clark Doll Test (cont.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZryE2bqwdk

Often chose to play with the white dolls more than the black ones.

‘White' = good and pretty. ‘Black' = bad and ugly.

The last question considered the worse Most of the black children had already

identified the black doll as the bad one.

The Five Cases

Delaware

Belton v. Gebhart Run-down segregated high school in a different

city vs a white school in the community Bulah v. Gebhart

Bus transportation for black children Results

Chancellor of the US District Court ruled that it was discrimination 11 black children should be admitted to white school

Board of education appealed the decision

Washington D.C.

Bolling v. Sharpe 11 young Black students applied to be

admitted to the John Philip Sousa Junior High School.

They were turned away Empty classrooms.

Results Argued the issue was segregation itself Dismissed

Segregated schools were legal in D.C.

South Carolina

Briggs v. Elliott Petition for school busses Backed by Principle DeLaine Used the findings of Clarks’ test

Segregation=psychological damage to black children

Results 2-1 loss “Equalization” DeLaine and Briggs lost their jobs

1 judge move to Florida

Virginia

Davis v. School County Board Students went on 2 week strike No gymnasium, cafeteria, infirmary or

teachers restrooms Results

Overturned. “Equalization”

Arkansas

Brown v. Topeka Board of Education Parents petitioned to enroll kids in white

schools Oliver Brown was first parent listed

Results Ruled against Accepted Clark’s evidence

Brown v. Board of Education

Taken to the US Supreme Court Used Clarks’ findings 14th Amendment violation

Didn’t require integration, but didn’t prohibit it. Results

Plessy v. Ferguson overruled Integrate schools!

Today?

Average white student: 73% white 8% black

Average black student 49 % black 28 % white.

Northeast: school segregation 42.7 % in 1968 to 51.4 % in 2011

Over ½ have poverty rates above 90%. 1.9% of schools serving whites have similar poverty rates

Clark studies still reach same results today https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSdKy2q6pEY

Questions

Even though there is legal integration now, how successful do you believe Brown v. Board of Education was in getting rid of segregation?

What are some ideas on how we could “change the results” of the Clark Doll Study in the future?

References

http://eh.net/encyclopedia/african-americans-in-the-twentieth-century/

http://orig.jacksonsun.com/civilrights/sec1_crow.shtml “Simple Justice” by Richard Kluger http://www.nps.gov/brvb/learn/historyculture/people.htm http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/

2014/05/brown_v_board_of_education_60th_anniversary_america_s_schools_are_segregating.html

http://www.usca.edu/aasc/briggsvelliott.htm “Grappling with Diversity: Readings on Civil Rights

Pedagogy and Critical Multiculturalism” by Susan Schramm-Pate and Rhonda B. Jeffries