Mrs. Furst 4A

1. Brown v. Board of
Education

2. History
 The radical republicans upgraded the
rights of the “freedmen” during the
reconstruction era.
 Later southern democrats revealed them
to be unconstitutional and passed Jim
Crow laws.
 The Separate but equal slogan ruled
America for 90 years.

3. Separate but “equal”

4. History
 Segregation started with the case of
Plessy v. Ferguson, it involved a man who
was 1/8 black and 7/8 white not being
allowed to ride in the same car as whites.
 The Courts decision was to create
separate but equal sections for blacks.
 Law stated that if you were 1/16 African
American, you would have to claim
yourself as African American

5. Background
 Oliver Brown, father of Linda Brown,
wanted his daughters to transfer into
Sumner Elementary school, but they were
denied access since it was a white school.
 Linda Brown and her sister had to walk
through a railroad switch-yard to get to
their bus stop.

6. History
 Brown v. board of education was not the first case to
challenge school segregation, In 1849 Benjamin
Roberts filed a suit against an educational system
that mandated racial segregation (Roberts v. City of
Boston)
 Oliver brown, the case namesake, was actually just
one of the nearly 200 plaintiffs from five states who
were part of the NAACP cases that came forward to
the supreme court 1951. The case was named
Oliver brown as a legal strategy to have a man head
the plaintiff roster.

7. THE COURT
• Oliver Brown and 13 other Topeka
parents filed a class action lawsuit
against the Board of Education of
Topeka.
• The District court ruled in favor of Board
of Education, they believed that the
African American and American schools
were substantially equal.

8. Supreme Court
• The Supreme court combined five cases
from five different states all concerning
school segregation.
• All of the judges personally hated
segregation except one.

9. The Key Holding of the Court
• The final decision of the court was that,
even if segregated white and black
schools were equal in facilities and
teachers, segregation itself was harmful
to African American students.
• Research Concluded they had a
psychological and social Disadvantage

10. President’s Choice
 Dwight. D. Eisenhower himself said,
“ All these Southern whites want is for their sweet
little Southern girls to not be in the same
classroom as big, overgrown Negroes.”
He explained that you can’t change people’s minds or
hearts through law. Eisenhower eventually decided to
end segregation, but he was ambivalent on if the south
was ready for integration

11. After the Supreme Court
Decision
• The first thing that occurred after the
decision was resistance.
• The Board of Education of Topeka
began to integrate the schools.
• One of the last surviving plaintiffs, Zelma
Henderson, revealed that the students
and staff of the white schools accepted
the African American students. Later
they integrated the African American
Staff.

12. How the decision affects African
American Community
• Charles Ogletree is a Stanford and
Harvard Law school graduate, he was
written a book on the history of race and
integration in American society.
• He explained how without this case and
decision, African Americans would not
be able to have decent careers.

13. Thanks for Watching!

14. Photo Credits
• Slide 3, left Picture,
http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/Retrospective1.htm
• Slide 3, right picture,
http://www.foreveryoungproduction.com/Tell%20About%20
• Slide 5, left picture,
http://www.nba.com/heat/multimedia/black_history_2006.ht
• Slide 5, right picture,
http://2010americancivilrights.wikispaces.com/Preston-Brow

15. Photo Credits
• Slide 7, only picture,
http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/brownvboard/brow
• Slide 9, right picture,
http://www.amistadresource.org/civil_rights_era/school_d
esegregation_movement.html
• Slide 9, left picture,
http://historymartinez.wordpress.com/2012/07/11/chief-
justice-earl-warren-supreme-court-opinion-on-brown-v-
board-of-education-1954-primary-source-documents-
with-reading-questions/

16. Photo Credits
• Slide 10, only picture,
http://www.oregonrepublicanparty.org/quotes/author/Dwi
ght%20D.%20Eisenhower
• Slide 12, only picture,
http://www.booknotes.org/Watch/181736-
1/Charles+Ogletree.aspx