page_title: Briggs v. Elliott
section_title: Aftermath
hierarchical_section_title: Briggs v. Elliott / Aftermath
caption_attribution_description: Text info from U.S. Mint: Authorized by Public Law 108-180, this medal commemorates Reverend Joseph A. DeLaine, Harry and Eliza Briggs and Levi Pearson for their contributions to the Nation as pioneers in the effort to desegregate public schools that led directly to the landmark desegregation case of Brown et al. v. the Board of Education of Topeka et al. The medal is a bronze replica of the Congressional Gold Medals awarded posthumously to Reverend Joseph A. DeLaine, Harry and Eliza Briggs and Levi Pearson and presented to personal representatives of each at a ceremony at the United States Capitol building on September 9, 2004. The obverse design features a portrait of Reverend Joseph A. DeLaine at the top center of the design, Harry Briggs in the right center, Eliza Briggs at the lower center and Levi Pearson in the left center of the design. Each name is inscribed next to the corresponding image. Centered along the top field are the inscriptions, “BRIGGS v. ELLIOTT” and “Our Trust Is In God”. Inscribed along the bottom are the words, “BROWN v. BOARD OF EDUCATION.” Two palm trees flank the images, one on the left and one on the right. The reverse design features four inscriptions that run from top to bottom: “Honoring the Pioneers and Petitioners from Clarendon County, South Carolina”, “They proved that segregation in education can never produce equality and that it is an evil that must be eradicated.” “Judge J. Waties Waring Dissenting Opinion”, “ACT OF CONGRESS 2003.” To the left of the inscriptions is a statue of Justitia, the Roman goddess of justice, portrayed with a pair of balanced scales raised in her left hand and a sword at her side in her right hand. In the forefront, four books are to be seen.
context_page_description: Briggs v. Elliott, 342 U.S. 350, on appeal from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of South Carolina, challenged school segregation in Summerton, South Carolina. It was the first of the five cases combined into Brown v. Board of Education, the famous case in which the U.S. Supreme Court declared racial segregation in public schools to be unconstitutional by violating the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause. Following the Brown decision, the district court issued a decree that struck down the school segregation law in South Carolina as unconstitutional and required the state's schools to integrate.
context_section_description: Although Brown resulted in a legal victory against segregation, it was a costly victory for those associated with Briggs. Reverend Joseph De Laine, the generally acknowledged leader of Summerton's African-Americans, was fired from his post at a local school in Silver. His wife, Mattie, was also fired from her position at Scott's Branch, as were all of the other signatories. De Laine's church was burned, and he moved to Buffalo, New York in 1955 after he had survived an attempted drive-by shooting. Both Harry and Eliza Briggs, on behalf of whose children the suit was filed, lost their jobs. Harry spent more than a decade working in Florida to support the family. Eliza eventually joined her children in New York.
  Judge Waring had already been shunned by the white community in Charleston and subjected to attacks for previous decisions favorable to equal rights. After his dissent in the three-judge panel, he retired in 1952 and moved to New York.
  Eventually, the state of South Carolina awarded Eliza Briggs its highest civilian honor, the Order of the Palmetto. Reverend Joseph A. De Laine, Harry and Eliza Briggs, and Levi Pearson were awarded Congressional Gold Medals posthumously in 2003.
caption: 2003 Brown et al. v. the Board of Education of Topeka et al. Congressional Gold Medal
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