[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 349 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







108th CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. RES. 349

 Recognizing and honoring May 17, 2004, as the 50th anniversary of the 
    Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 4, 2004

  Mr. Kennedy (for himself, Mr. Leahy, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Feingold, Mr. 
 Carper, and Mr. Biden) submitted the following resolution; which was 
               referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Recognizing and honoring May 17, 2004, as the 50th anniversary of the 
    Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka.

Whereas May 17, 2004, marks the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision 
        in the case of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 
        (1954);
Whereas in the 1896 case of Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (1896), the Supreme 
        Court upheld the doctrine of ``separate but equal'', which allowed the 
        continued segregation of common carriers, and, by extension, of public 
        schools, in the United States based on race;
Whereas racial segregation and the doctrine of ``separate but equal'' resulted 
        in separate schools, housing, and public accommodations that were 
        inferior and unequal for African-Americans and many other minorities, 
        severely limited the educational opportunities of generations of racial 
        minorities, negatively impacted the lives of the people of the United 
        States, and inflicted severe harm on American society;
Whereas in 1945, Mexican-American students in California successfully challenged 
        the constitutionality of their segregation on the basis of national 
        origin in Westminster School District of Orange County v. Mendez (161 
        F.2d 774 (9th Cir. 1947));
Whereas in 1951, Oliver Brown, on behalf of his daughter Linda Brown, an 
        African-American third grader, filed suit against the Board of Education 
        of Topeka after Linda was denied admission to an all-white public school 
        in Topeka, Kansas;
Whereas in 1952, the Supreme Court combined Oliver Brown's case (Brown v. Board 
        of Education of Topeka, 98 F. Supp. 797 (D. Kan. 1951)) with similar 
        cases from Delaware (Gebhart v. Belton, 91 A.2d 137 (Del. 1952)), South 
        Carolina (Briggs v. Elliott, 98 F. Supp. 529 (E.D.S.C. 1951)), and 
        Virginia (Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County, 103 F. 
        Supp. 337 (E.D. Va. 1952)) challenging racial segregation in education 
        and determined that the constitutionality of segregation in public 
        schools in the District of Columbia would be considered separately in 
        Bolling v. Sharpe, 347 U.S. 497 (1954);
Whereas the students in these cases argued that the inequality caused by the 
        segregation of public schools was a violation of their right to equal 
        protection under the law;
Whereas on May 17, 1954, in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, the Supreme 
        Court overturned the decision of Plessy v. Ferguson, concluding that 
        ``in the field of public education, the doctrine of `separate but equal' 
        has no place'' and, on that same date, in Bolling v. Sharpe, held that 
        the doctrine of ``separate but equal'' also violated the fifth amendment 
        to the Constitution; and
Whereas the decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka is of national 
        importance and profoundly affected all people of the United States by 
        outlawing racial segregation in education and providing a foundation on 
        which to build greater equality: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) recognizes and honors May 17, 2004, as the 50th 
        anniversary of the Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of 
        Education of Topeka;
            (2) encourages all people of the United States to recognize 
        the importance of the Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board 
        of Education of Topeka; and
            (3) acknowledges the need for the Nation to recommit to the 
        goals and purposes of this landmark decision to finally realize 
        the dream of equal educational opportunity for all children of 
        the United States.
                                 <all>