- Page index
- Speeches
- Web sites
- Periodical articles
Topic in Focus—Brown v. Board of Education
‘This year, 2004, marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education decision. This landmark decision declared unconstitutional state statutes that required the segregation of public schools by race. It thus extended federal power to education, an area traditionally controlled by states and localities. Brown also signaled a new determination to interpret more broadly the Constitution's promise of equality before the law and began an era of active federal intervention to defend and guarantee the civil rights of all Americans.’ —
SPEECHES
- President George Bush. Remarks at Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site, 17 May 2004
- Secretary of Education Rod Paige. Remarks at the Opening of the Monroe Elementary School Historical Site, Topeka, Kansas, 17 May 2004
- Secretary of State Colin L. Powell. Excerpt from remarks at Wake Forest University 2004 Commencement Ceremony, 17 May 2004
- National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice. Excerpts from remarks at Vanderbilt Commencement, 13 May 2004
- Secretary of Education Rod Paige. Remarks at the Cato Institute Regarding the 50th Anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education Decision, 11 May 2004
- Secretary of Education Rod Paige. Remarks at the Kennedy School of Government, 22 April 2004
WEB SITES
Black/White & Brown
Companion site for the documentary Black/White & Brown: Brown versus the Board of Education of Topeka, produced by KTWU (PBS), 2004. Features include resources for teachers, downloadable transcripts of the program and the oral arguments in Brown, and links to other sites.
In Pursuit of Freedom & Equality, Brown Foundation for Educational Equity, Excellence and Research
This site provides the text of lower court decisions in most of the Brown-related cases, a bibliography of books related to Brown, an orientation handbook to the Brown decision, an online student activity book, and past issues of the Brown Quarterly for classroom teachers.
Brown v. Board: An American Legacy
Special online edition (Spring 2004, Number 25) of Teaching Tolerance magazine, Southern Poverty Law Center. Timeline, interviews, and classroom activities and resources.
Brown v. Board of Education matters to all Americans
A website of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. to commemorate the Brown anniversary, includes a detailed Brown chronology of milestone court cases and other events covering the period from 1933-2003.
Brown v. Board of Education: A Teacher's Resource Guide, Alonzo N. Smith, National Museum of American History.
Includes extensive annotated bibliography and webography. Will be updated periodically.
Brown v. Board of Education 50th Anniversary Commission
Website of the 23-member federal commission established by Public Law 107-41 to commemorate the Brown anniversary in 2004. Hosted by the U.S. Department of Education.
Brown @ 50: Fulfilling the Promise, Howard University School of Law
Among the resources offered is an online chronology from the sixteenth-century arrival of African slaves on American shores to the 2003 Supreme Court decision in Gratz v. Bollinger.
Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site
In 1992, Congress established this National Historic Site to commemorate the landmark Brown decision. It consists of the Monroe Elementary School and adjacent grounds in Topeka, Kansas. Administered by the National Park Service. Grand opening on May 17, 2004.
The Civil Rights Era
Part of the African American Odyssey online exhibit from the Library of Congress. Uses primary sources from the Library's collections, including a 1941 memo by Thurgood Marshall on "Saving the Race" and a photograph of NAACP lawyers in front of the Supreme Court following the Brown decision.
Illinois Humanities Council
The Illinois Humanities Council is planning a reenactment of the oral arguments in Brown v. Board for high school teachers and students. It is also planning a year's worth of programming on various aspects of the Brown decision and its legacy. To get on a mailing list for teacher resources prepared by the Council, email your name, address, school affiliation, phone number, and email address to ang@prairie.org. Also visit the Council's website for updates on program plans next year.
Looking Back: Brown v. Board of Education
Companion site to National Public Radio series (December 2003) on Brown. Includes 3-part Nina Totenberg-hosted series on "The Supreme Court Deliberations" leading to Brown and Juan Williams on "Thurgood Marshall and Brown v. Board of Education."
We Shall Overcome—Historic Places of the Civil Rights Movement, National Register of Historic Places
Featuring 49 historic sites in 21 states (including Illinois) associated with the civil rights movement in the United States, this website provides extensive background on the civil rights movement and essays on the historical significance of each of the featured sites.
Celebrating 50 Years of Brown v. Board of Education, National Education Association
Site provides school integration timeline, lists Brown v. Board of Education classroom and community events taking place each month, and links to resources.
Realize the Dream. Quality Education for All
This civilrights.org site includes background information about Brown v. Board of Education, as well as a lengthy listing of links to online media, photo galleries, articles, curricula, activities for children, and more.
Brown v. Board of Education, University of Arizona, Rogers College of Law
This site's features include a timeline of events leading to the Brown decision, case history, ruling, a photo gallery of related images, and a listing of events.
Brown Jubilee Commemoration, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Website includes extensive annotated bibliography of books on Brown for children and young adults.
Brown v. Board of Education, University of Michigan Library Digital Archive
Archive contains documents and images which chronicle events surrounding this historically significant case up to the present. The archive is divided into four main areas of interest: Supreme Court cases; busing and school integration efforts in northern urban areas; school integration in the Ann Arbor Public School District; and recent resegregation trends in American schools. Includes an image gallery, bibliography, and links to related sites.
Brown v. Board.com
Companion website to What Brown v. Board of Education Should Have Said: The Nation's Top Legal Experts Rewrite America's Landmark Civil Rights Decision (Jack Balkin, editor, New York University Press, 2001) features an interactive civil rights chronology from 1502 to 2000.
50th Anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, Bureau of International Information Programs, US Dept. of State
PERIODICAL ARTICLES
Brown at 50.
Foner, Eric
The Nation. May 3, 2004, Vol. 278 Issue 17, p 15, 3p
View article on ProQuest (password required)
The author discusses how the Supreme Court ruling Brown vs. Board of Education changed race relations and constitutional law in America. Prior to the landmark Supreme Court rulings in Brown v. Board of Education and Bolling v. Sharpe, the US government and the states were permitted to segregate students racially in primary and secondary public schools. On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court in Brown invalidated state laws requiring or permitting racial segregation in public primary and secondary schools. Such laws, the Court concluded, violate the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Simultaneously, in Bolling the Court held that the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment prohibited the federal government from racially segregating students in the District of Columbia. These decisions marked a major step forward in the struggle for racial justice--one that surely warrants commemorating on its fiftieth anniversary. The rulings reflected and encouraged developments that would soon spark that burst of humane, bold and heroic action we now know as the civil rights movement. The reformist Justi Fannie Lou Hamer, Myles Horton, James Reeb, Robert Moses, Septima Clark, Ella Baker, James Farmer, Thurgood Marshall, Roy Wilkins and John Lewis--people who, assisted by Brown and subsequent rulings, attempted with considerable success to uproot segregation and its kindred abominations.ces of the Supreme Court played an important role in that struggle. But it would be wrong to permit their handiwork to eclipse the achievements of activists such as Medgar Evers and Modjeska Simkins.
Beyond Black, White and Brown.
Reed Jr., Adolph
The Nation. May 3, 2004, Vol.278 Issue 17, p17, 7p
View article on ProQuest (password required)
This section presents responses to questions about race relations in America by Adolph Reed Jr., Pedro Noguera and Robert Cohen, Mari Matsuda, Frank H. Wu, Asa Hilliard III, Patricia Sullivan, Jacquelyn D. Hall, and Jonathan Kozol. The Editors: Thanks to the civil rights revolution, de jure segregation is dead. But vast social, economic and educational inequalities continue to plague American society. Moreover, while the black-white paradigm has never fully described American race relations, we are far more aware today than in the past of the multiracial nature of our society. With this in mind, we asked a range of scholars, writers and activists to reflect on the legacy of Brown and the prospects for future change. Should education be the primary focus of social activism? What strategies will most effectively promote educational betterment in black and other communities? Can we expect the courts to play a role at the forefront of change, as they did for much of the 1950s and '60s, and if not, what other institutions are positioned to adopt that role? Is the goal of educational desegregation irrelevant today?
An Unfinished Journey: The Legacy of Brown and the Narrowing Of the Achievement Gap.
Foner, Eric
Phi Delta Kappan. May 2004, Vol. 85 Issue 9, p656, 14p
View article on ProQuest (password required)
This section presents responses to questions about race relations in America by Adolph Reed Jr., Pedro Noguera and Robert Cohen, Mari Matsuda, Frank H. Wu, Asa Hilliard III, Patricia Sullivan, Jacquelyn D. Hall, and Jonathan Kozol. The Editors: Thanks to the civil rights revolution, de jure segregation is dead. But vast social, economic and educational inequalities continue to plague American society. Moreover, while the black-white paradigm has never fully described American race relations, we are far more aware today than in the past of the multiracial nature of our society. With this in mind, we asked a range of scholars, writers and activists to reflect on the legacy of Brown and the prospects for future change. Should education be the primary focus of social activism? What strategies will most effectively promote educational betterment in black and other communities? Can we expect the courts to play a role at the forefront of change, as they did for much of the 1950s and '60s, and if not, what other institutions are positioned to adopt that role? Is the goal of educational desegregation irrelevant today?
These are just a few periodical articles that are available from or IRC. Feel free to contact your nearest IRC for further information and articles.
