[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 6]
[House]
[Pages 8773-8774]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1700
         FIFTY-SIXTH ANNIVERSARY OF BROWN v. BOARD OF EDUCATION

  (Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania asked and was given permission to 
address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, this week marks the 56th 
anniversary of the Supreme Court ruling of Brown v. Board of Education. 
It

[[Page 8774]]

was a landmark case known throughout this country for putting an end to 
segregated schools.
  The case was argued before the Supreme Court by the chief counsel for 
the NAACP, Thurgood Marshall. The decision by the Justices was 
unanimous when they declared that the State laws establishing separate 
public schools for black and white students was unconstitutional.
  There followed a period of national debate and unrest over the 
decision. Then, in 1965, Congress passed the Elementary and Secondary 
Education Act, which emphasized equal access to education and 
established high standards and accountability in schools.
  Fifty-six years after Brown and 45 years after the first ESEA, we are 
not finished with our common goal of education equity for all students, 
whether they attend schools in the inner city or rural America.
  As we contemplate ESEA reauthorization, I call upon my colleagues 
here in the House to support a world-class education system that 
provides every student with the opportunity to live up to his or her 
individual potential regardless of race, class, or geographic location. 
This would be the greatest and best remembrance of this landmark case.

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