IV 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 382 

Honoring the 65th anniversary of the landmark decision of the Supreme 

Court in Brown v. Board of Education (347 U.S. 483 (1954)). 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 14, 2019 

Mr. WATKINS (for himself, Ms. DAVIDS of Kansas, Mr. MARSHALL, and Mr. 

ESTES) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 

Committee on the Judiciary 

RESOLUTION 

Honoring the 65th anniversary of the landmark decision 

of the Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education 

(347 U.S. 483 (1954)). 

Whereas, in 1950, 9-year-old Linda Brown, the daughter of 

Oliver L. Brown, was denied entry into the all White 

Sumner Elementary School in Topeka, Kansas, and 

forced to attend the all Black Monroe Elementary School 

in Topeka, Kansas; 

Whereas, on February 28, 1951, the complaint in Brown v. 

Board of Education was filed with the United States District Court for the District of Kansas, with Oliver L. 

Brown as the lead plaintiff; 


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•HRES 382 IH 

Whereas the plaintiffs in Brown v. Board of Education appealed the ruling of the district court to the Supreme 

Court; 

Whereas, at the Supreme Court, the case of Brown v. Board 

of Education was combined with other cases from South 

Carolina, Delaware, Virginia, and the District of Columbia regarding segregation in public schools; 

Whereas Thurgood Marshall argued the case of Brown v. 

Board of Education before the Supreme Court as lead 

counsel for the appellants; 

Whereas, on May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court delivered a 

unanimous opinion holding that— 

(1) separate educational facilities are inherently unequal; and 

(2) the ‘‘separate but equal’’ doctrine violated the 

14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United 

States, which states that no citizen may be denied equal 

protection under the law; 

Whereas Brown v. Board of Education (347 U.S. 483 

(1954))— 

(1) overruled the 1896 decision in Plessy v. Ferguson (163 U.S. 537 (1896)); 

(2) ended discriminatory Jim Crow laws; and 

(3) invalidated the ‘‘separate but equal’’ doctrine, 

ending segregated classrooms in Kansas and across the 

United States; 

Whereas, in a second opinion issued on May 31, 1955, the 

Supreme Court decreed that schools should be desegregated with all deliberate speed; 

Whereas, because of the role that Linda Brown played in 

ending racial segregation in the United States, Linda 


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Brown became a civil rights icon and continued to be a 

voice for school desegregation in Topeka, Kansas; 

Whereas Linda Brown passed away on March 27, 2018, at 

the age of 75 in Topeka, Kansas; and 

Whereas Congress established the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site, which is located at Monroe 

Elementary School in Topeka, Kansas, the school that 

Linda Brown attended: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives recog2 nizes and celebrates— 

3 (1) the 65th anniversary of the landmark deci4 sion of the Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of 

5 Education (347 U.S. 483 (1954)); and 

6 (2) the contribution the decision has made to— 

7 (A) equal education; and 

8 (B) equal justice under the law, which is 

9 recognized in the Declaration of Independence 

10 and guaranteed by the Constitution of the 

11 United States. 

Æ 


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