Ask Mike: Brown vs. Board of Education
Hey Guys,
As many of you know, February is Black History Month. While browsing through the site, I noticed a lot of questions relating to Black History and famous African-Americans. One African-American who was both famous and unknown was Reverend Oliver Brown of “Brown vs. Board of Education.”
The court case “Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education” ended legal segregation in the United States by dismantling the “legal basis for racial segregation in the schools and other public facilities.” The decision would “initiate educational reform” throughout the country and “was a catalyst in launching the modern civil rights movement.”
So, who exactly was “Brown” of “Brown vs. Board of Education”? Oliver Brown was one of “200 plaintiffs from five states who were part of the NAACP cases brought before the Supreme Court in 1951.” It was simply a legal strategy to put Oliver Brown’s name first. Lawyers felt it was best to name the Topeka case after a man, and Mr. Brown was the only male plaintiff.
Oliver Brown died in 1961, but his legacy still lives on. An article from Newsday explains that the fame the case brought to the Brown family wasn’t always welcome, but was surely outweighed by the opportunities that came from the historic legal decision.
While Brown vs. Board of Education did a lot for civil rights in the United States, many would argue we still have a long way to go. What are some strategies you can share on fighting intolerance and advancing social justice in your community? Please leave a comment below.
Thanks for reading,
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How can Mr. Brown be famous and unknown? That is a contradiction. He is famous and very well known, even as you mention. As far as new strategies for fighting intolerance and advancing social justice there really are no new ones. The legal system is very well equipped to arrest and prosecute people commiting hate crimes and “minorities” have many advantages in this country.
Thank you so much. I am the white girl in the office who quizzes my black coworkers during February every year. (Trivia nut, this is just another outlet for it).
I didn’t know who Brown was and I’m annoyed that I never thought to find out. But you did it for me. Thanks.
Love God first, and love everyone around as you would love yourself.
An important thing to remember:
In the period 1896 to 1950, the Supreme Court of the United States decided, at least six times, that racial segregation in public schools and other public accommodations, was constitutional. Without any change in the underlying text of the Constitution, it changed its mind in the Brown case, and decided that, all of a sudden, racial segregation was wrong.
One can imagine the surprise and shock and even anger that was experienced in the South and in many other parts of the country, when they found out that Supreme Court precedent on which they had relied for nearly sixty years had been overturned overnight.
Brown did not involve inferior schools for blacks. The trial court expressly found that the respective facilities were substantially equal to each other. While it is true that the school for black children was further away, the Board of Education provided bus service for black students, but did not provide any for white students.
If racial segregation was wrong (and it was), the Supreme Court shares a major portion of the blame for having allowed it to exist for almost 60 years and by declaring that the practice was in accordance with the United States Constitution.
Why do we not have “White History Month?” After all this is America, isn’t it?
Hip Hop is a culture that is very misunderstood. When people think of Hip Hop the first thing that they think about is all the negative things that are involved. What they don’t see is what the artists see, which is a creative way they can express themselves.
The schools are still not equal. In low-income neighborhoods, the students are not getting the same education as student in more prestigious areas. All children deserve the best education this country can give them. We do have a long way to go. Parents also need to be more involved.
Clearly, education is the key. The more people are edcuated about others whether it be race, religion, sexual orientation, etc. the more they become more tolerant of others different than themselves. We only fear what we dont know. We have get the facts and stop listening and living by stereotypes.
Some strategies on fighting intolerance:
Lose the stereotypes. You put good people into stereotypes, and you’ll never see the good in them.
Address poverty.
Stop the racist jokes. They perpetuate negative stereotypes.
Be sensitive.
And finally, wait. As younger generations come, old racist generations will go.
It’s black history month! Let’s celebrate famous black people.
Wonderful, except it only counts if the black person is also American. To bad so many of my favourite opera singers are black Europeans.
My first strategy would be to insure that women who are involved in these cases are also named. It is important that we not keep women invisible. It is important to remember to name some of the women involved in education during that period that gave a voice for change in this case.
There have been great strides made but racism is alive and well, not only against different cultures but different religions as well. Muslims have become the new favorite targets of discrimination in this day and age. Discrimination is part of being human and I doubt we’ll ever see an end to it.
If we had a white peoples month, We should have it in April. Every one could celebrate and talk about the old white protestant folks, .
Want for your neighbor what you want for yourself
I appreciate you indicating that ‘strategies” are necessary in order to fight injustice.
I strongly disagree with the comment regarding how equipped our legal system is in erradicating discrimination and segragation.
Still today, it is practiced.
I also think the “white girl” at the office need to lay off the black people in the office, to me this is a form of harrassment (someone needs to quiz her on her own history), and due to the fact “black history” hasn’t always been taught in school.
I don’t think she means well at all but wants to use her access to black information as a pun to say she knows more about black history then they do. I hope you forward my comment to her, she should stop.
And why is she all into black like that? I think it’s due to her own ignorance and not the ignorance of the persons she takes upon her self to quiz. Who is she “their teacher”? no she stealing info off the web, if she was in my office I’d take her to HR.
Anyway your questions here sounds much like a home work assignment where you are challenged to find an answer.
To answer your questions, to fight intolerance, you need to be aware of where it exists. Many persons here and abroad still hold on to the old propaganda and stereotypes of the black person.
I think “self awareness” would be my first step. Most times things have existed in such a way for so long people accept them. It has to start with inside of the black communities, making each person aware and accountable for the part they play in allowing these stereotypes to exist and playing a part in their existance.
Next we should collectively “boycott” any businesses which have policies (unofficial and practically unnoticable) which don’t offer advancement to persons of color and run them out of business to make the statement that we have “No tolerance” for them.
Additionally, along with our “Self Awareness” campaign there should be a “No Tolerance” campaign, one which feeds persons the knowledge to make them mentally aware of instances where they see segregation and manipulations exist.
Along with the boycotts, personally, I think we should not do business with any business in our community which don’t support our people. Every foreign grocery store, hair weave shop etc, should have to employ a black person in order to do business in the community.
Why should they just take and take and never give anything back….That would be my “Give Back To The Community”, campaign, otherwise we need to boycott them to run them out.
Black people need to become more socially aware of the “Impact” they can have upon this nation.
That in itself takes some teaching. Martin Luther King demonstrated that when they almost bankrupted the Atlanta Bus company. We can bankrupty most any business if we collectively pull out our financial support.
There would also be a need to transcend businesses which have a negative affect in our community, such as liquor stores and lottery agents. Minimize their hours and their influence upon our health and our economy.
Some neighborhood have a liquor store on every block. I live in the suburbs and there are no liquor stores.
The Walgreen company understood all too well what mix messages they were sending, on one hand they sold booze on the other they sold medicine.
They had been practicing “Kill em and Heal em” which are contrary terms. They made a decision to practice a more life supporting business and closed all of their liquor departments and opened up clinics and medical supplies in their place.
This had a big social impact on the communities nationwide.
But that awareness help them make a statement about what their true mission is. They originally started out as a drug store pharmacy.
Then they realized they contributed to destorying lives but selling liquor, they no longer wanted to be a part of that business.
Regarding the legal system, it’s still tainted, where whites in big cities and local areas get off with a slap on the wrist and black men get sentenced concurrently, where they finish doing the max on one term then a new term starts, which means they never will get out of jail, where whites doing the same or worst crimes will be granted freedom in a matter of years.
That would be my number one theme…..Getting the judicial system to be equal with regards to the sentencing of our black men and women.
I think there needs to be a review board set up to do a comparison study with similar crimes and marginalize the sentencing.
I think the “Three Strikes Law” is an abomination to many people who fall into it’s web.
First because once you are a convicted felon “you can’t get a job” so you are forced to live a life under the radar, hell people with degrees can’t get a job to support themself and they are at the top of the job chain.
There needs to be more employers and programs which hire exconvicts so they do have a hope and a trade.
Educate them instead of taking their lives away and filing them away in a system that is meant to beat them down and not lift them up.
While we are talking about “rehabilitating” an excon, depending upon their crime and mental status, some ought to be able to attend college, learn to become something other than a career criminal.
What would you do if you maybe while you were young and dumb did somethng that caught you a court case and a small conviction, but because you were convicted, no jobs will hire you, how would you take care of your family and yourself? What are your options,
Some free programs provide schooling, but almost every job application asked if you are a felon and do background checks.
I was in the HR office once applying for a job and the HR rep was on the phone talking with a lady about an applicant she had sent over and the HR rep had refused. She knew I over heard her and when she got off the phone she said to me, “Oh, so I guess you heard, yeah, the lady had a record and it’s not that I don’t want to hire her, but I have so many other applicants with out a record, why be bothered with her?
This is the attitude of employers, and the back lash for that applicant is that she will be reduced to either welfare or crime in order to feed herself, supply for her daily needs and take care of her family.
I know employers have to be careful who they employ, but there are jobs out on riggs, in Alaska where there ain’t much to be a criminal about, where these persons can be placed while they prove themselves worthy to be among regular people.
The crazies and the criminally insane are exceptions, I wouldn’t want to work around them, but we talking about those who are guilty of selling weed, stealing cars, crimes that have caused nor have a physical threat to humanity.
So, there you are, I’ve given you a lot to digest.
I strongly disagree with the person who said our judical system and Supreme court is equipped to handle segregation and intolerance. It’s only within my generation that a black person has been nominated to be among their midst and it took “Affirmative Action” in order to bring that about.
America is ripe for social change as we can see with President Obama being elected.
We need to have a look at the impact our judicial system has on the lives of persons be they black and white because I will be one to tell you in America, “Justice is NOT blind” it makes a difference if you are black or white. If you got money or don’t…and freedom has always come with a price…only thing is with the exception of a few white counterparts who fought and died for us, it’s mostly black people who have pretty much the main ones paying for it, with our lives.
very good information. I think that black history month serves a purpose, that being to tell a part of American history that has been ignored.
The saying “history is written by the victors” rings true, and to that point, the US history is filled with tales of white men and women braving the wilderness, fighting off “savages”. true history would include all aspects, and not just the Majority.
Black History month seems to have become all about reminding the white folks that their ancestors were bad people to the ancestors of the black folks. I realize that a lot of Americans can trace their lineage back to slave owners or similar… but please stop assuming that we all can. Personally, my family didn’t immigrate until three generations ago, which means my great-grandparents came to America in 1914, which was about 50 years after slavery was abolished by the 13th amendment.
Oh, and to the anonymous who posted about opera singers… it’s for black Americans because it is an American celebration about American history.
I don’t think we need a white history month or a black history month. We need to celebrate all of American history if we do anything. Why are we all still so focused on skin color?
brown vs the board of ed was a very important event in ending segragation in our nations public school system. and it seemed like it would end a very ugly part of our history. but it’s unfortunate that our school are still separate. ours public schools our now equal. the vast difference between inner city schools in poor urban areas and the schools in the burbs is wide. are kids are still separate and are still not equal. i guess what we’re facing now is more of an economic separation as opposed to a racial line. there’s still along way to go!
Someone can be famous and unknown at the same time. Plenty of people know about Brown v. Board, but who knows who “Brown” is? I didn’t, but now I do. Thanks for posting this.
Brown vs. Board of Education. Vigilance, community action, change is what comes to mind. Our country has come so far and yet, here we head straight into an economic nightmare. What happens when the economy goes so far downhill? People start pointing the fingers at who is to blame. Illegal immigrants, legal immigrants who look different, talk different and who want our jobs, or maybe it’s just that certain religious group that always has money…The biases and prejudgements remain. How can we combat these? We can never stop teaching the children and modeling for the children what is RIGHT. We talk about acceptance and tolerance and we MODEL that every day at every turn. We must demand that our schools be NO PLACE FOR HATE zones. This is an official designation that can be earned by schools wishing to keep the messages out there for the kids. I don’t need to quiz anybody, and I don’t need to act righteous about my background, and I don’t need to be blind either. I have pledged to myself to say something every time I hear someone saying something or see someone doing something that puts another person down in some way. People, we have got to change the way we act towards one another. It begins with each of us. We must remain ever vigilant regarding our rights and responsibilities as American citizens and as a compassionate people. Be kind, but be clear about what you believe is right. Segregation is wrong and blaming “them” is wrong and hateful too. We all need to take a look at our own language because the change starts right there with us….right now….
I do understand what you mean when you say “famous yet unknown”. Brown was immortalized (so to speak) because it was his name that was listed on a legal case that changed history, but what is it exactly that we know personally about Mr.Oliver Brown?
You touched on another issue, that of perception. Mr. Brown’s name was chosen to be the primary name because during this time in history, women still did not have the respect of men (again, so to speak). The lawyers felt that the case would be best received if a man’s name appeared predominately as the main “character” in the suit, even though in the culture of that time period, women were responsible for the upbringing & schooling of the children. Would they not be the ones who were made more aware of the affects that segregation caused the children seeing as how most children are more comfortable confiding in their mothers & then, their fathers?
If men and women loved God and their neighbor as themselves we would all get along, if we realized that we are more alike than we are unalike we would be fine. We would love for black history to be a part of American History, but because our history is so broad what are they going to do rewrite the history books (NOT). So we must teach Black History to our children and learn about it ourselves. We need to start with ourselves be the people God wants us to be and UNITED we can do more good in America if we come together. And true “AMERICA JUSTICE IS NOT BLIND”
Sigh, I fear this will be yet another opportunity to elicit veiled and open racist comments, like that of the white girl in the office, who has, in the very least, an inferiority complex, whether she knows or not. Which is why she needs to put down her black co-workers by “owning information”. Maybe she means well, but it doesn’t sound like that to me.
And, we don’t have a white history month for the same reason we don’t have a special Childrens day (like Mother’s Day): EVERY FRIKKING MONTH IS WHITE HISTORY MONTH!
Except February, I suppose. Btw, don’t white people have this whole “Heritage” crap going on? “Heritage” sounds more like it is code for celebrating the looting and pillaging of the world, including the enslaving and large scale killing of non-white people… JMHO.
Google “black girl Paris Texas” and you’ll see that Brown vs BoE is not practice everywhere …. yet. And I don’t think even Obama can do anything there.
Brown vs. Board of Ed. is a requirement in schools now, I believe. During the Civic Right Moment unit in US History, the case is looked at in detail; and that’s just in high schools. When you reach college, the US Histort courses delv further into the case and pick is apart. Mr. Oliver Brown was brought up while I was studying the case in my history classes. But for those who don’t have the same opportunities as I do, the his first name is lost. His last name is lumped in with the case so his name lives through the ages.
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