[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 86 (Monday, June 21, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1193-E1194]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF BROWN V. BOARD

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. WM. LACY CLAY

                              of missouri

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, June 21, 2004

  Mr. CLAY. Mr. Speaker, May 17, 2004 marked the fiftieth anniversary 
of the landmark ``Brown v. Topeka Board of Education'' decision 
ordering the desegregation of U.S. schools. This court ruling 
effectively denied the legal basis for segregation in Kansas and 20 
other States with segregated schools and forever changed race relations 
in the United States. Brown v. Board laid the precedent for ending all 
segregation. Very few Supreme Court decisions have impacted our 
nation's history as much as Brown v. Board.
  This important anniversary was celebrated in Topeka, Kansas with the 
formal opening of a new national park--the Brown v. Board National 
Historic Site at Topeka's once-segregated Monroe Elementary School. In 
conjunction with the fiftieth anniversary celebrations, Washburn 
University hosted an interdisciplinary academic conference, ``Telling 
the Story: Narrating Brown v. Board,'' May 18-20, 2004, and invited 
proposals for twenty-minute paper presentations on the full range of 
themes suggested by the Brown decision. Professor of History, Philip A. 
Grant, Jr. of Pace University was accepted to deliver his paper 
entitled ``Midwestern Press Reactions to the 1954 `Brown' Decision,'' 
at the conference ``Telling the Story: Narrating Brown v. Board'' at 
Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas on May 19, 2004.
  Since the Supreme Court overturned Plessy v. Ferguson and declared an 
end to legal segregation, this country has made great progress, 
especially in the area of racial relations, but there is more work to 
be done. In order for us to continue to make this country a better 
place in which to live, we must remember the past. I believe that 
Professor Grant has brought to light the importance of Brown v. Board 
as seen by newspapers of the Midwest at the time of the decision. I ask 
that his entire paper be made a part of the Record so that all the 
American people, not just those who attended the conference last month, 
may have the benefit of his historical insight. [Paper recited at the 
``Telling the Story: Narrating Brown v. Board'' conference at Washburn 
University, May 19, 2004]

        Midwestern Press Reaction to the 1954 ``Brown'' Decision

                       (By Philip A. Grant, Jr.)

       On May 17, 1954 the United States Supreme Court issued its 
     historic ``Brown v. Board of Education'' decision. In a 
     unanimous opinion the nation's highest tribunal decreed 
     segregation in public elementary and secondary schools 
     unconstitutional. By every standard the ``Brown'' ruling 
     ranked as one of the most significant developments in the 
     long and eventful history of our federal court system. Indeed 
     there is ample evidence to warrant the conclusion that the 
     ``Brown'' decision generated more controversy than any 
     previous Supreme Court verdict.
       The ``Brown'' decision attracted prime news coverage 
     throughout the Midwest, a twelve state region extending from 
     Lake Erie in northeastern Ohio to the Kansas-Colorado line 
     more than thirteen hundred miles to the West. Moreover, a 
     substantial majority of midwestern newspapers opted to 
     editorialize on the ``Brown'' ruling.

[[Page E1194]]

       Among the daily publications printing editorials on the 
     ``Brown'' decision were the Cleveland Plain Dealer, 
     Cincinnati Enquirer, Detroit Free Press, Indianapolis Star, 
     Chicago Tribune, Milwaukee Journal, Saint Louis Post-
     Dispatch, Kansas City Star, Des Moines Register, and 
     Minneapolis Tribune. These newspapers circulated in ten of 
     the Midwest's major population centers.
       The Plain Dealer asserted that for a number of states ``a 
     greater challenge in the form of `thall shall not' could 
     hardly have been issued than the Supreme Court ruling against 
     Negro segregation in public schools.'' Convinced that the 
     Supreme Court ``could not have ruled otherwise than it did on 
     the basic issue,'' the Plain Dealer believed that the Negroes 
     had ``earned the right to be treated as first-class citizens 
     and earned it the hard way.''
       Perceiving that the ``Brown'' decision ``probably will 
     prove to be the most important judicial finding in the field 
     of racial relations in our entire national history,'' the 
     Enquirer ascertained that it would ``work profound changes in 
     a substantial part of the United States--not confined to the 
     South by any means.'' The Cincinnati newspaper concluded: 
     ``What the justices have done is simply to act as the 
     conscience of the American nation.''
       The Free Press, definitely endorsing the thrust of the 
     ``Brown'' decision, claimed that the people of the country 
     ``who cherish the belief that the American system of 
     democracy is a vital, living organic philosophy, steadily but 
     inexorably, advancing toward the ideals of the founders of 
     the Union, will be heartened by the unanimous opinion of the 
     Supreme Court.'' While conceding that the ``Brown'' ruling 
     would ``not of itself abolish prejudice nor raise all 
     Americans to the exalter status of men created in the image 
     of their maker,'' the Free Press maintained: ``But it does 
     mark a step in that direction, a step toward fulfillment of 
     man's dream that all men are created equal, and that under a 
     more perfect government of laws they can attain to dignity 
     and all its inherent rights.''
       Extolling the Supreme Court for having upheld ``a vital 
     principle of individual equality under the law,'' the Star 
     argued that segregation was ``morally, practically 
     and economically evil'' and denied ``the brotherhood of 
     man upon which our whole form of constitutional government 
     is based.'' While concerned that no provision of the 
     Constitution granted the federal courts ``the right to 
     establish or control educational systems,'' the Star 
     contended:
       ``Morally, we believe the Supreme Court was right in 
     calling for an end to segregation. It is fortunate that this 
     decision was unanimous for the full authority of the court 
     will carry great weight with the Southern states, who now 
     oppose its view. We hope the states opposing this ruling will 
     accept it in good spirit and earnestly try to meet its 
     demands. We hope Federal authorities will give the states 
     time, and sympathetic assistance in making this conversion. 
     And we hope that any demagogue, white or colored, who tries 
     to inflame public opinion by using this explosive issue will 
     be properly rebuffed by the overwhelming majority of the good 
     people in our states.''
       While admitting that it was doubtful whether the South 
     would abide by the court's decision, the Tribune was 
     optimistic that the unanimous ruling ``should help a good 
     deal to discourage resistance to the finding or attempts to 
     evade its plain meaning.'' The Tribune, commending the 
     Supreme Court for having ``struck down segregation in the 
     public schools of the United States,'' declared:
       ``The principle established by this decision is not that 
     anybody has to give up any of his prejudices, no matter how 
     desirable it might be that he do so. The principle is the 
     much simpler one that the state governments, north and south, 
     must regard all men as created equal so far as opportunities 
     at the disposal of the state are concerned. The idea may 
     appear dangerously novel to some citizens, but the Supreme 
     Court didn't invent it. Indeed, they can be said to have 
     borrowed it from a distinguished Virginian named Thomas 
     Jefferson.''
       The Journal, analyzing the ``Brown'' ruling as the ``most 
     far reaching court decision on the racial issue since 
     emancipation,'' anticipated that the decision would 
     ``revolutionize the school set-up in the South and, in 
     effect, the racial relationships there are bound to be felt 
     outside the classrooms.'' Surmising that the consequences of 
     the ``Brown'' verdict would impact the entire country, the 
     Journal stated:
       ``. . . It apparently knocked the last legal prop from any 
     official discrimination against Negroes or other minority 
     groups because of color, race or religion. It banishes any 
     legal recognition of second class citizenship for the members 
     of such groups.''
       Impressed that the ``Brown'' ruling was unanimous and 
     written in direct and persuasive language, the Milwaukee 
     newspaper was pleased that there ``could be no doubt about 
     the intent or the logic and reasoning supporting the 
     decision.''
       Feeling that there was ``no need to say just how 
     important'' the ``Brown'' ruling was, the Post-Dispatch also 
     emphasized that there was ``no point in explaining it today 
     as the most momentous since the Dred Scott decision handed 
     down almost a century ago, on the eve of the Civil War.'' The 
     Post-Dispatch, pointing out that the substance of the 
     ``Brown'' verdict was of ``transcendent importance,'' 
     predicted that the decision would have its ``impact in one 
     way or another on every community, in every city'' and 
     ``in less time than we are apt to think around the 
     world.''
       The Star, recognizing that the ``Brown'' decision ``sets 
     the goal'' of ending racial segregation in all public 
     schools, stressed that the principle involved in the Supreme 
     Court ruling ``now controls for the future'' and ``is the law 
     of the land.'' Warning that there ``can be no cheating or 
     blocking'' the objective proclaimed by the Supreme Court, the 
     Star offered the following appraisal:
       ``The breakdown in segregation since World War II has come 
     a step at a time and generally without friction. The Supreme 
     Court's ruling basically is no more drastic than the trend of 
     our times that produced it. Now that the principle is 
     established the future calls for more of the good sense and 
     understanding of racial problems that has generally 
     prevailed.''
       Praising the Supreme Court for having ``begun the erasure 
     of one of American democracy's blackest marks,'' the Register 
     rejoiced that the nation's ``basic law on public education 
     has been brought into line with the ringing spirit of freedom 
     and equality in the Declaration of Independence.'' While 
     gratified that the ``Brown'' decision decreed that racial 
     segregation constituted a denial of equal educational 
     opportunities, the Register asserted:
       ``The Supreme Court decision will ease America's 
     conscience. The strong cry of `hypocrite' from colored folks 
     all over the world has been heard in Des Moines and in 
     Mobile. But America's conscience will not be cleared until 
     her practice measures up to the noble words of the court 
     decision.''
       The Tribune, sensing that the ``Brown'' ruling would ``be 
     welcomed and embraced by all who believe in the 
     constitutional guarantee of equal rights meaning just that, 
     and nothing less,'' suspected that the decision would ``echo 
     far beyond our borders and may greatly influence our 
     relations with dark-skinned people the world over.'' 
     Concerned that the ``Brown'' verdict posed ``one troublesome 
     immediate question,'' the Tribune asked: ``What will be done 
     in the southern states where political leaders have been most 
     militant in opposing the end of segregation?'' While 
     wondering whether the political spokesmen of the South would 
     ``persist in their attitudes,'' the Minneapolis newspaper was 
     ``inclined toward the optimistic view.''
       There was a consensus within the ranks of the major 
     newspapers of the Midwest that the Supreme Court had acted 
     wisely and responsibly in issuing the historic ``Brown'' 
     ruling. While newspapers tended to analyze the ``Brown'' 
     decision from somewhat different perspectives, they all 
     agreed that the objective proposed by the Supreme Court was 
     entirely consistent with the nation's long overdue quest for 
     racial equality. In expressing their attitudes on an issue of 
     overriding importance the daily publications of the Midwest 
     were contributing to a dialogue with their readers and 
     historians of the future.

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