[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 79 (Monday, May 13, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2791-S2792]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

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 SENATE RESOLUTION 201--HONORING THE 65TH ANNIVERSARY ON MAY 17, 2019, 
  OF THE LANDMARK DECISION OF THE SUPREME COURT IN BROWN V. BOARD OF 
                     EDUCATION, 347 U.S. 483 (1954)

  Mr. ROBERTS (for himself and Mr. Moran) submitted the following 
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary:

                              S. Res. 201

       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)--

[[Page S2792]]

       (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 Senate recognizes and celebrates--
       (1) the 65th anniversary on May 17, 2019, 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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