This book addresses the origins, development, meanings, and consequences of the 1954 Supreme Court decision to end Jim Crow segregation. Using legal documents to frame the debates surrounding the case, Waldo Martin presents Brown v. Board of Education as an event, a symbol, and a key marker in the black liberation struggle.
This book addresses the origins, development, meanings, and consequences of the 1954 Supreme Court decision to end Jim Crow segregation. Using legal documents to frame the debates surrounding the case, Waldo Martin presents Brown v. Board of Education as an event, a symbol, and a key marker in the black liberation struggle.
Foreword Preface
Introduction: Shades of Brown: Black Freedom, White Supremacy, and the Law
Historical Backdrop: The Constitution, the Law, and Fighting Jim Crow
The Evolution of the NAACP Legal Campaign Against Jim Crow
The NAACPs Legal Strategy Challenged
The Growing Anti-Racist Offensive: An American Dilemma Confronts World War II
Continuity and Change in the Legal Struggle: Equality, Equalization, and Direct Attack
Politics, Social Change, and Decision-Making within the Supreme Court: The Crafting of Brown
The Brown Decision: Immediate Response and Immediate Consequences
1. Roberts v. City of Boston (1849)
A Petition on Behalf of Black Inclusion in the Boston Common Schools, October 17, 1787
Maria W. Stewart, A Black Teachers Travail, 1850s
Fugitive Slave Poster, 1851
Charles Sumner, Brief for Public School Integration, 1849
Massachusetts Chief Justice Lemuel Shaw, Opinion of the Court in Roberts v. City of Boston, 1849
2. Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
Henry McNeal Turner, "Civil Rights: The Outrage of the Supreme Court of the United States upon the Black Man," 1889
Ida B. Wells-Barnett, "The Case Stated," 1895
Paul Laurence Dunbar, "We Wear the Mask," 1895
Justice Henry Brown, Majority Opinion in Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896
Justice John Marshall Harlan, Dissenting Opinion in Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896
3. Sweatt v. Painter (1950) and McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents (1950)
"Letters of Negro Migrants of 1916-1918," 1919
Langston Hughes, "I, Too," 1926
W. E. B. DuBois, "Does the Negro Need Separate Schools?" 1935
Gunnar Myrdal, From An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy, 1944
The Petitioners Brief in Sweatt v. Painter, 1950
Chief Justice Fred Vinson, Opinion of the Court in Sweatt v. Painter, 1950
Chief Justice Fred Vinson, Opinion of the Court in McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents, 1950
4. Brown v. Board of Education (1952-55)
Mississippi Voter Registration Form, 1955
The Lower Court Round: Preliminary Deliberations
Judge John J. Parker, Decision in Briggs v. Elliott, 1951
Judge J. Waties Waring, Dissent in Briggs v. Elliott, 1951
The Supreme Court Rounds: The Making of Brown I and Brown II
Round One: Setting the Stage
Appellants Brief, 1952
"The Effects of Segregation and the Consequences of Desegregation: A Social Science Statement," Appendix to Appellants Brief
Appellees Brief, 1952
Round Two: Reargument on Original Intent and Possible Relief
The Supreme Courts Order: The Questions, 1953
Appellants Brief, 1953
Appellees Brief, 1953
Federal Friend-of-the-Court Brief, 1953
Chief Justice Earl Warren, Opinion of the Court in Brown v. Board of Education, May 17, 1954
Round Three: Reargument on Remedy - Immediate or Gradual?
Appellants Brief, 1954
Appellees Brief, 1954
Appellants Reply Brief, 1954
Chief Justice Earl Warren, Ruling on Relief, May 31, 1955
5. Popular Response to Brown
Newspaper Editorials
"All Gods Chillun," Times (New York), May 18, 1954
The Decision of a Century, Daily World (Atlanta), May 18, 1954
Will Stun Communists, Courier (Pittsburgh), May 18, 1954
End of Dual Society, Defender (Chicago), May 18, 1954
Emancipation, Post and Times Herald (Washington, D.C.), May 18, 1954
The Supreme Court Has Given Us Time, Constitution (Atlanta), May 18, 1954
Bloodstains on White Marble Steps, Daily News (Jackson, Miss.), May 18, 1954
The Pattern of the Future, Gazette (Arkansas), May 18, 1954
Equality Redefined, Herald (Boston), May 18, 1954
The Segregation Decision, Times (Los Angeles), May 19, 1954
"Violates" Way of Life, Cavalier Daily, University of Virginia, May 18, 1954
Adjustment Held Difficult, Mississippian, University of Mississippi, May 18, 1954
Letters to Editors
Times (New York), May 31, 1954
Sentinel (Orlando), August 11, 1955
Political Cartoons
Chronicle (San Francisco), May 18, 1954
Christian Science Monitor (Boston), May 22, 1954
Democrat (Arkansas), May 22, 1954
Tennessean (Nashville), May 22, 1954
Afro-American (Richmond), May 22, 1954
Defender (Chicago), June 12, 1954
White Backlash
The Southern Manifesto, March 12, 1956
White Citizens Council Notice
National Progress Report: Realizing Integrated Schools
Decade of Desegregation, Times (New York), May 17, 1964
Two Decades Later, Times (New York), May 17, 1974
The Enduring Promise of Brown, Times (New York), May 17, 1984
Forty Years and Still Struggling, Times (New York), May 18, 1994
Epilogue: The Legacy of Brown
APPENDICES
Chronology of Events Related to Brown v. Board of Education
Selected Bibliography
Index