[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 74 (Thursday, May 15, 2014)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E753]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




COMMEMORATING THE 60TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE LANDMARK DECISION IN BROWN V. 
                           BOARD OF EDUCATION

                                  _____
                                 

                        HON. SHEILA JACKSON LEE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 15, 2014

  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise to commemorate the 60th 
anniversary of the historic Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of 
Education, which overturned the doctrine of ``separate but equal'' that 
had been the law of the land since 1896 when the Supreme Court decided 
Plessy v. Ferguson.
  In Brown v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court declared that 
separate public schools for black and white Americans were 
unconstitutional. This unanimous decision sparked the movement toward 
desegregation of American institutions and paved the way for the civil 
rights movement.
  On the anniversary of this landmark decision, it is appropriate that 
we pay tribute to our ancestors who endured and lived through those 
days of crisis and challenge so that we could enjoy the right to vote, 
the right to equal protection of the law, and to enjoy the blessings of 
liberties. These efforts should not go unnoticed.
  This historic case originated in Topeka, Kansas, and involved a black 
third-grader named Linda Brown, who had to walk one mile through a 
railroad switchyard to get to her black elementary school, even though 
a white elementary school was only seven blocks away.
  Linda's father, Oliver Brown, tried to enroll her in the white 
elementary school, but the principal of the school refused. Brown went 
to McKinley Burnett, the head of Topeka's branch of the National 
Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and asked for 
help. The NAACP got other black parents to join in to a complaint and 
in 1951 the NAACP requested an injunction that would forbid the 
segregation of Topeka's public schools.
  The U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas heard Brown's case 
and refused to overrule the precedent of Plessy v. Ferguson which 
allowed separate but equal school systems for blacks and whites.
  The case was taken to the Supreme Court on October 1, 1951 and set up 
one of the landmark cases in the history of the American justice 
system. It was the arguments of the NAACP in representing Brown that 
won the day.
  On May 17, 1954, Chief Justice Earl Warren read the unanimous 
decision of the Supreme Court:

       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.

  With those few words more than a century of racial discrimination and 
separation were dealt a great blow.
  It is up to us to preserve the hard won gains of those who led the 
fight and won the case of Brown v. Board of Education.

                          ____________________