A bit of enrichment for you IGCSE students.
If you click here you will get to The Guardian’s obituary for Linda Brown, the Kansas girl at the center of the 1954 supreme court ruling that concluded that “in the field of public education, the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place.”
Some helpful links follow.
“Topeka’s former Sumner School was all-white when Brown’s father, Oliver, tried to enroll the family. He became lead plaintiff in the 1954 Brown v Board of Education supreme court decision that ended school segregation. The landmark case began after several black families in Topeka were turned down when they tried to enroll their children in white schools near their homes. It was brought before the supreme court by the legal arm of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and joined with cases from Delaware, South Carolina, Virginia and the District of Columbia.
On 17 May 1954, the supreme court ruled unanimously that separating black and white children was unconstitutional because it denied black children the 14th amendment guarantee of equal protection under the law.“In the field of public education, the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place,” chief justice Earl Warren wrote. “Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.”
- Click here for an article explaining the the hidden ripple effect of Brown v. Board of Education.
- Click here for a discussion about the the Thurgood Marshall film.
- More disturbingly, click here for a recent report suggesting that suggest that half a century of US civil rights gains have stalled or reversed recently.
Have a read and see what you think.
Mr Kydd.
