On This Day in 1954: Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education

[Zomby Woof]

55 years ago today, the Supreme Court of the United States overturned Plessy vs. Ferguson with a 9-0 vote, and etablished once and for all, that separate educational facilities are NOT equal, and thus, ruling that apartheid in our public schools is unconstitutional. The 14th Amendment cites equal protection for all. Let us pause today to reflect upon this milestone of liberty and justice for all... and to consider just how far we have left to go. This struggle continues.

[JitterbugPerfume]

1. believe it or not

I remember when that happened. I was 14!

I am turning into a living breathing history book

[Zomby Woof]

3. I am going to have to buy a new bookcase

Just to make room for you then.

[JitterbugPerfume]

16. make it sturdy--

I ain't small!

[Kajsa]

4. I was 3 at the time, Jitterbug!

I know the feeling.

" Wow- you mean there was NO TV when you were born ?"

[JitterbugPerfume]

7. we watched radio!

I actually remember the first time I watched TV . It was at a neighbors house and it wa the soap opera The Edge of Night . I must have been around seven.

[Kajsa]

9. That's right!

I remember 'The Lawrence Welk Show' when I was 5 years old.

My biggest memory was watching ' The Wizard of Oz' when I was 6 yrs. old.
That witch scared the hell out of me- she still does!

[TahitiNut]

8. Yup. I was 11 and I remember, too.

More and more I'm feeling like Forrest Gump.

[knitter4democracy]

2. Separate is not equal.

As much as I believe in single sex education (taught in a fabulous girls' school for two years and saw amazing things happen), it was obvious from my time in a girls' school that the boys' schools get more money, more media attention, more of everything. We made miracles happen, but it was hard not to get miffed when the bishop would hang out at his alma mater and had never visited our school until our 150th anniversary. It was hard not to get jealous of their new sports complexes, new science equipment (when we kicked their ass in every science fair), new everything.

That was a small taste of separate but unequal, and I know that it's even worse in poor school districts.

[pleah]

5. K&R

[Kajsa]

6. A great day in our history,

and a continuing fight to see it through.

[MuseRider]

10. Thank you Zomby!

Long time no see.

The Monroe school has become a nice little museum with lots of programs through out the year. A very nice historical site for anyone interested or coming through the area.

http://www.nps.gov/brvb/

[Zomby Woof]

12. Muse!

Love that this thread is bringing some favorite veterans out and about!

Thanks for that link. I haven't been through Kansas in 21 years, but if I am ever there again, I would love to visit that site. I am all about our National Parks and historical preservation.

[MuseRider]

14. Well let me know

when and if. I no longer live in Topeka but am outside it in the country YAY! You could stay with us out on the farm. Seriously, nobody ever comes here but if you do let me know.

I hope life is treating you well. Still acting? Hope so.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

11. In 1957 I was a junior high student in Jacksonville Beach, Florida.

I remember a sweet looking, grey haired, bespectacled, lady teacher tell the class, "We will never allow niggers in this school" to applause from the class.

That coupled with watching my classmates spit on an elderly black man walking next to our school bus created a civil-rights enthusiast and later civil rights activist.

[Zomby Woof]

13. A helluva crucible

But the best activists are usually forged in the heat of such injustice.

[MuseRider]

15. Man.

I remember the "colored only" drinking fountains and the back entry and all of that. My very best friend when I got to Kindergarten was black much to the dismay of my parents, her parents and the school. It was about 1958. That did it for me. I have never understood bigotry and I think much of it comes from my experience with my friend Nanny. I never saw her again after Kindergarten.

[W_HAMILTON]

17. Damn activist judges!

[ashling]

18. left to go?

we have elected the first Black President who is getting us out of Iraq ... with all deliberate speed.

[Zomby Woof]

20. There are still some Americans without full civil rights

[ashling]

23. I agree

I was making reference to the ambiguous language used in Brown that "all deliberate speed" should be used integrate the schools. We are using the same deliberate speed to bring the troops home. I think that is shameful.

[Wednesdays]

25. As SCOTUS Justice Black wrote later about Brown vs. Board of Ed...

"There has been entirely too much deliberation and not enough speed."

Applies to both cases.

[ashling]

26. Yes, indeed

[Capn Sunshine]

19. So much that is taken for granted now

I honestly think my children (Gen Xers) don't truly grasp what things were like despite my contant storytelling. Viewed through their lens, it's almost like it happened hundreds of years ago.

I remember visiting my moms family in Texas and Oklahoma; one of my earliest memories of there was a scorching summer day, a line at one drinking fountain (sign: whites only) but not the other,
and everyone FREAKING OUT because I used the "other" fountain.

[Zomby Woof]

22. I am one X-er determined to keep history known

I grew up in the south as the civil rights movement was waning - the late 60's/early 70's - and many strides had been made by the time I entered grade school. Still, my deep appreciation of history allowed me to realize later that it really wasn't all that long ago, and as you say, could NOT be taken for granted.

When I went to college in the mid-80's, my first cause was fighting apartheid in South Africa. I was keenly aware that it was scarcely a generation since Rosa Parks, sit-ins, and boycotts. Still, I was discouraged by the Reagan-era complacency and head-in-the-sand ignorance many of my cohorts had of current events. Vietnam was ancient history. Civil rights was a term used in a textbook. I share your view that it is important to keep hammering home the lessons, to remind others that progress is not inevitable, but must be won. I have taught enough young people to know that their view of time may be less fluid than ours, but I sm sure many will get it one day. Or I will strive to keep trying that they do.

And by the way, Hey Cap'n! Long time no see 'round these parts.

[CBR]

21. K&R

Important day! My mother-in-law lived through integration in the Lynchburg, VA public schools. It is an honor to hear her stories. Thank you for this thread.

[struggle4progress]

24. Republican Earl Warren was a blessing on this country, and we should never forget him