[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 620 Introduced in House (IH)]






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 Independence of the United 
        States of America declared that all men are created equal;
Whereas 150 years ago, in 1854, Americans founded the Republican 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;
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. Ferguson, the Supreme 
        Court of the United States erroneously upheld state law providing for 
        racial segregation and the dissent correctly declared that, ``Our 
        Constitution is color-blind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes 
        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 admission to a public elementary school 
        restricted to whites;
Whereas future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall successfully represented 
        Oliver and Linda Brown, overcoming centuries of segregation in the 
        United States and establishing an historic global ideal;
Whereas Chief Justice Earl Warren, former Governor of California and vice-
        presidential nominee, led a unanimous Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of 
        Education, extending the nation's founding principle of equality; and
Whereas Brown v. Board of Education served as an important legal precedent, 
        helped revive the civil rights movement 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
    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, including 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.
                                 <all>