IV 
108TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. RES. 620
Commemorating the 50th anniversary of the landmark United States Supreme 
Court decision in the case of Brown v. Board of Education. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 4, 2004
Mr. COX submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 
Committee on the Judiciary 
RESOLUTION 
Commemorating the 50th anniversary of the landmark 
United States Supreme Court decision in the case of 
Brown v. Board of Education.
Whereas 228 years ago, in 1776, the Declaration of Inde-
pendence of the United States of America declared that 
all men are created equal; 
Whereas 150 years ago, in 1854, Americans founded the Re-
publican Party to extend equal treatment under law to 
those involuntarily brought to the United States and 
enslaved; 
Whereas 143 years ago, in 1861, President Abraham Lincoln 
began to lead the United States through its deadliest war 
with the ultimate goal of establishing equal treatment 
under law for all Americans, regardless of race;
•HRES 620 IH 
Whereas 136 years ago, in 1868, the United States ratified 
the 14th Amendment to the Constitution prohibiting any 
State from denying its citizens equal protection under the 
law; 
Whereas 108 years ago, in 1896, in the case of Plessy v. Fer-
guson, the Supreme Court of the United States erro-
neously upheld state law providing for racial segregation 
and the dissent correctly declared that, ‘‘Our Constitu-
tion is color-blind, and neither knows nor tolerates class-
es among citizens. In respect of civil rights, all citizens 
are equal before the law’’; 
Whereas precisely 50 years ago, in the case of Brown v. 
Board of Education, the Supreme Court of the United 
States unanimously rejected Plessy v. Ferguson; 
Whereas Oliver Brown sought to overturn Plessy v. Ferguson 
by filing a lawsuit because his daughter was denied ad-
mission to a public elementary school restricted to whites; 
Whereas future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall 
successfully represented Oliver and Linda Brown, over-
coming centuries of segregation in the United States and 
establishing an historic global ideal; 
Whereas Chief Justice Earl Warren, former Governor of Cali-
fornia and vice-presidential nominee, led a unanimous 
Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education, extend-
ing the nation’s founding principle of equality; and 
Whereas Brown v. Board of Education served as an impor-
tant legal precedent, helped revive the civil rights move-
ment thwarted at the end of the 19th century, and helped 
lead to the enactment of additional civil rights legislation, 
including, 40 years ago, on July 2, 1964, the landmark 
Civil Rights Act of 1964: Now, therefore, be it
•HRES 620 IH 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives—
(1) commemorates the 50th anniversary of the 
United States Supreme Court decision Brown v. 
Board of Education; 
(2) encourages all Americans to consider the 
importance of the victory for equality under law 
achieved because of the decision in Brown v. Board 
of Education; 
(3) recognizes that the struggle for equality 
under law continues in the United States and 
around the world; 
(4) affirms the Declaration of Independence, in-
cluding that all persons are created equal and ‘‘are 
endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable 
Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the 
pursuit of Happiness’’; and 
(5) pledges to diligently defend and advance 
equality under law for all persons.
Æ