[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 382 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 382

 Honoring the 65th anniversary of the landmark decision of the Supreme 
      Court in Brown v. Board of Education (347 U.S. 483 (1954)).


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 14, 2019

 Mr. Watkins (for himself, Ms. Davids of Kansas, Mr. Marshall, and Mr. 
 Estes) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 
                       Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Honoring the 65th anniversary of the landmark decision of the Supreme 
      Court in Brown v. Board of Education (347 U.S. 483 (1954)).

Whereas, in 1950, 9-year-old Linda Brown, the daughter of Oliver L. Brown, was 
        denied entry into the all White Sumner Elementary School in Topeka, 
        Kansas, and forced to attend the all Black Monroe Elementary School in 
        Topeka, Kansas;
Whereas, on February 28, 1951, the complaint in Brown v. Board of Education was 
        filed with the United States District Court for the District of Kansas, 
        with Oliver L. Brown as the lead plaintiff;
Whereas the plaintiffs in Brown v. Board of Education appealed the ruling of the 
        district court to the Supreme Court;
Whereas, at the Supreme Court, the case of Brown v. Board of Education was 
        combined with other cases from South Carolina, Delaware, Virginia, and 
        the District of Columbia regarding segregation in public schools;
Whereas Thurgood Marshall argued the case of Brown v. Board of Education before 
        the Supreme Court as lead counsel for the appellants;
Whereas, on May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court delivered a unanimous opinion 
        holding that--

    (1) separate educational facilities are inherently unequal; and

    (2) the ``separate but equal'' doctrine violated the 14th Amendment to 
the Constitution of the United States, which states that no citizen may be 
denied equal protection under the law;

Whereas Brown v. Board of Education (347 U.S. 483 (1954))--

    (1) overruled the 1896 decision in Plessy v. Ferguson (163 U.S. 537 
(1896));

    (2) ended discriminatory Jim Crow laws; and

    (3) invalidated the ``separate but equal'' doctrine, ending segregated 
classrooms in Kansas and across the United States;

Whereas, in a second opinion issued on May 31, 1955, the Supreme Court decreed 
        that schools should be desegregated with all deliberate speed;
Whereas, because of the role that Linda Brown played in ending racial 
        segregation in the United States, Linda Brown became a civil rights icon 
        and continued to be a voice for school desegregation in Topeka, Kansas;
Whereas Linda Brown passed away on March 27, 2018, at the age of 75 in Topeka, 
        Kansas; and
Whereas Congress established the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic 
        Site, which is located at Monroe Elementary School in Topeka, Kansas, 
        the school that Linda Brown attended: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives recognizes and 
celebrates--
            (1) the 65th anniversary of the landmark decision of the 
        Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education (347 U.S. 483 
        (1954)); and
            (2) the contribution the decision has made to--
                    (A) equal education; and
                    (B) equal justice under the law, which is 
                recognized in the Declaration of Independence and 
                guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States.
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