[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 83 (Monday, May 21, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E694]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




COMMEMORATING THE 64TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE LANDMARK DECISION IN BROWN V. 
                           BOARD OF EDUCATION

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. SHEILA JACKSON LEE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                          Monday, May 21, 2018

  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise to commemorate the 64th 
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 unrecognized.
  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.
  Mr. 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 Oliver 
Brown's case but 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 presented by the NAACP on Mr. Brown's 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.

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