IV

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. RES. 176

Recognizing the historical significance of the Supreme Court’s unanimous

decision in Brown v. Board of Education, repudiating segregation, and

reaffirming the fundamental belief that we are all ‘‘one Nation under

God, indivisible.’’

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MAY 18, 1999

Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi (for himself, Mr. CLYBURN, Mr. HASTINGS of

Florida, Mr. JEFFERSON, Mr. CUMMINGS, Ms. VELA ́ZQUEZ, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. SCOTT, Mr. RUSH, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Mr. PAYNE,

Mr. JACKSON of Illinois, Mrs. CHRISTENSEN, Ms. NORTON, Mr. DAVIS

of Illinois, Mr. OWENS, Ms. BROWN of Florida, Mrs. MEEK of Florida,

Mr. FATTAH, Ms. MILLENDER-MCDONALD, Mr. FORD, Mrs. JONES of

Ohio, Mr. TOWNS, Ms. MCKINNEY, Mrs. CLAYTON, Mr. MEEKS of New

York, Ms. LEE, Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. FROST,

Ms. CARSON, Ms. KILPATRICK, Ms. WATERS, Mr. WYNN, Mr. RANGEL,

Mr. BISHOP, Mr. HILLIARD, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, and Mr. WATT of

North Carolina) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to

the Committee on the Judiciary

RESOLUTION

Recognizing the historical significance of the Supreme

Court’s unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education, repudiating segregation, and reaffirming the fundamental belief that we are all ‘‘one Nation under God,

indivisible.’’

Whereas in 1951 Linda Brown was a third-grader and an African-American who was forced to endure hardships such
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as walking a mile through a railroad switchyard to get

to her black elementary school, even though a white elementary school was only 7 blocks away;

Whereas the Reverend Oliver Brown, Linda Brown’s father,

was turned away when he tried to register his daughter

at the nearby white school, simply because the little girl

was black;

Whereas Thurgood Marshall, special counsel for the NAACP

Legal Defense Fund and a protege of Howard University

Law Professor Charles Houston, successfully argued that

the ‘‘separate but equal’’ doctrine, established by the Supreme Court in its Plessy v. Ferguson decision in 1896,

was unconstitutional;

Whereas Chief Justice Earl Warren read aloud, from the

Court’s unanimous decision: ‘‘We come then to the question presented: Does segregation of children in public

schools solely on the basis of race, even though the physical facilities and other ‘tangible’ factors may be equal,

deprive the children of the minority group of equal educational opportunities? We believe that it does. . . . We

conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine

of ‘separate but equal’ has no place. Separate educational

facilities are inherently unequal. Therefore, we hold that

the plaintiffs and others similarly situated for whom the

actions have been brought are, by reason of the segregation complained of, deprived of the equal protection of

the laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment’’;

Whereas the Brown v. Board of Education decision struck a

pivotal blow against Jim Crow laws, as well as the dark

forces of racism and segregation; and
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Whereas the interaction of students of all races promotes better understanding and the acceptance of racial differences: Now, therefore, be it

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives—

2 (1) recognizes the historical significance of the

3 Supreme Court’s unanimous decision in Brown v.

4 Board of Education;

5 (2) heralds this watershed in our shared history

6 as a significant advancement of the most basic

7 American principles of freedom, justice, and equality

8 under the law; and

9 (3) repudiates racial segregation as antithetical

10 to the noble ideals upon which this great Nation was

11 founded, and reaffirms the fundamental belief that

12 we are all ‘‘one Nation under God, indivisible’’.

Æ