Brown v Board of Education
combination
the supreme court combined 5 cases under the heading of Brown v Board because they each sought the same legal rememdy
-11 black junior high students were tajen on a field trip the city's new modern school for whites -activist Gardner Bishop accompanied them and asked for admittance for the students but was denied -in 1951 a suit was filed on their behalf -Supreme Court reviewed the Brown case of 1954 and ruled that "segregation in the District of Columbia public schools... is a denial of the due process of law guaranteed by the 5th amendment..." -named for Spottswood Bolling%D
Washington, DC: Bolling v. C. Melvin Sharpe
South Carolina: Briggs v. Elliot
-1947 Clarendon county -state NAACP first attempted (unsuccessfully and with a single plaintiff) to take legal action against the inferior conditions that African American students experienced in the South Carolina segregated school system -by 1951, Rev. J.A. DeLaine convinced black parents to join the NAACP in filing a class action suit in US district court -Court found that the conditions of black schools were grossly inadequate -an order to equalize facilities was virtually ignored by the school officials and they were never made equal -Named for Harry Briggs, Sr.
Kansas: Brown v. Board of Education
-1950 the Topeka NAACP (leader: McKinley Burnett) set out to organize a legal challenge to an 1879 state law that permitted racially segregated elementary schools in certain cities based on population -the local NAACP assembled a group of 13 parents who agreed to be plaintiffs on behalf of their 20 children -they tried to enroll their kids in the white school and were denied -Topeka had 18 White schools and only 4 that African Americans had access to -in February 1951 the Topeka NAACP filed a case -**although it was a class action it was named for the plaintiff Oliver Brown
Delware: Belton v. Gebhart (Bulah v. Gebhart)
-1951 -local cases challenged the inferior conditions of two black schools in the suburb of Claymond -prohibited from attending the local highs chool, black students had to ride a bus an hour away to attend Howard High in WIlmington -Howard had a deficient curriculum, pupil-teacher ratio, teacher training, extra curricular activities, and physical plant -The community of Hockessin had a one-room school house while not providing transportation while the white school had a better facility and transportation -Louis Redding (NAACP attorney) represented both of the plaintiffs (parents) -Plaintiffs won... but not all schools were fixed
Brown v Board
-1954 supreme court decision -dismantled the legal basis for racial segregation in schools and other public facilities -the Brown decision initiated educational and social reform throughout the US and was a catalyst in launching the modern Civil Rights movement
Virginia: Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County
-A school in Prince Edward County was built in 1943, so it was never large enough to accommodate its student population -tar covered buildings were added as classrooms -the gross inadequacies sparked a student strike in 1951 -organized by Barbara Johns and the NAACP joined their struggle, going to court -US court ruled that the plaintiffs be provided with equal school facilities, but they were denied access to the white schools in their area -named for Dorothy Davis
