Source: https://www.adl.org/resources/backgrounders/brown-v-board-of-education
Timestamp: 2019-04-24 14:16:23+00:00

Document:
More than sixty years after Brown v. Board of Education the promise of equal access to quality education remains unfulfilled. School expulsions and suspensions are among the best predictors of who will drop out of high school and African American students are three more likely to be suspended or expelled than their white peers.
In a recent analysis of the 97,000 public schools in the United States, the Department of Education found a pattern of inequality on a number of fronts, with race as the dividing factor. High schools with the highest percentage of African American and Latino students have fewer course offerings associated with college preparation and access. African American and Latino students are more likely than white students to attend schools with first year teachers and teachers who do not meet all the state teaching requirements. In addition, African American and Latino students are underrepresented in Gifted and Talented Education Programs.
In light of this Federal guidance, ADL has chosen to highlight this important data by creating two infographics, offering a snapshot into the respective issues of the School-to-Prison Pipeline and the Education Opportunity Gap. They serve as a reminder that there is still much work to be done.
We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.
These celebrated words from the Brown v. Board of Education Majority Opinion ushered in an unprecedented era of civil rights and school restructuring in the United States. In 1954, when this judgment was written, not a single black student attended a majority white public school in the American South.
In 1892, Homer Plessy, an African-American man, refused to give up his seat to a white man on a train in New Orleans, as he was required to do by Louisiana state law. For this action he was arrested. Plessy, contending that the Louisiana law separating blacks from whites on trains violated the “equal protection clause” of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, decided to fight his arrest in court. In 1896, his case was presented to the United States Supreme Court. By a vote of 8-1, the Supreme Court ruled against Plessy. With this ruling, racial segregation was permitted under the guise of “separate but equal” and racially segregated schools were made legal. Despite the Supreme Court's ruling in Plessy and similar cases, many people continued to press for the abolition of Jim Crow and other racially discriminatory laws.
In 1952, five separate cases came before the U.S. District Court concerning the issue of segregation in public schools. These cases were Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (Kansas), Briggs v. Elliot (South Carolina), Davis v. Board of Education of Prince Edward County (Virginia), Boiling v. Sharpe (District of Columbia) and Gebhart v. Ethel (Delaware). While the facts of each case are different, the main issue in each was the constitutionality of state-sponsored segregation in public schools. Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund handled these cases. A three-judge panel at the U.S. District Court heard the cases and ruled in favor of the school boards. The plaintiffs then appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
When the cases came before the Supreme Court in 1952, the Court consolidated all five cases under the name of Brown v. Board of Education. Thurgood Marshall personally argued the case before the Court. Although he raised a variety of legal issues on appeal, the most common one was that separate school systems for blacks and whites were inherently unequal, and thus violate the “equal protection clause” of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Unable to come to a solution by June 1953 (the end of the Court's 1952–1953 term), the Court decided to rehear the case in December 1953. Finally, all of the Justices agreed to support a unanimous decision.
On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court delivered the unanimous ruling declaring state-sanctioned segregation of public schools was a violation of the 14th Amendment and was therefore unconstitutional.
Protest march against the segregation of U.S. schools, St. Louis, MO, 1954.
On May 17, 1954 the U.S. Supreme Court issued a landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education desegregating America’s schools. Finding that “it is doubtful that any child may reasonably be expected to succeed in life if he is denied the opportunity of an education,” the Court concluded that education “is a right which must be made available to all on equal terms.” Sixty years after Brown, however, the promise of equal educational opportunities in the United States remains unfulfilled.
The data suggests that race is still a prominent predictor of access to equality in schools. It remains as important as ever to discuss issues of racial disparity critically and thoughtfully in local communities. ADL has linked a number of resources for school and educators to consider as they work towards the Department of Education and Department of Justice’s articulated Guidelines for school enhance school climate and improve school discipline policies and practices.
This webinar will provide a legal overview of the recently released guidance, trends in school discipline today and provide educational best practices for addressing bias related issues in schools. Participants will examine case studies that highlight the complex nature of school discipline and will be encouraged to respond using educational tools.

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