[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 176 Introduced in House (IH)]







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. Velazquez, 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 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
Whereas the interaction of students of all races promotes better understanding 
        and the acceptance of racial differences: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) recognizes the historical significance of the Supreme 
        Court's unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education;
            (2) heralds this watershed in our shared history as a 
        significant advancement of the most basic American principles 
        of freedom, justice, and equality under the law; and
            (3) repudiates racial segregation as antithetical to the 
        noble ideals upon which this great Nation was founded, and 
        reaffirms the fundamental belief that we are all ``one Nation 
        under God, indivisible''.
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