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'''Brown vs. Board of Education''' was the landmark 1954 decision that overturned the 1896 Plessy vs. Ferguson decision that allowed de jure (legal) segregation.  

'''Brown vs. Board of Education''' was the landmark 1954 decision that overturned the 1896 Plessy vs. Ferguson decision that had allowed de jure (legal) segregation and the system of [[Jim Crow]]. The Brown decision said it was unconstitutional for any state or city to require segregated schools.  

The U. S. Supreme Court under the leadership of Chief Justice [[Earl Warren]] unanimously voted to end segregation with ''Brown''.  The decision made illegal the dual system of white and black schools in the South and border states.  Border states integrated quickly, but Virginia and the Deep South resisted.  At one point President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] sent in the U.S. Army to enforce integration in Little Rock, Arkansas.

The U. S. Supreme Court under the leadership of Chief Justice [[Earl Warren]] unanimously voted to end segregation with ''Brown''.  The decision made illegal the dual system of white and black schools in the South and border states.  The border states and Florida integrated quickly, but Virginia and the Deep South resisted.  At one point in 1957 President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] sent in the U.S. Army to enforce court-ordered school integration in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Apart from schools, segregation continued in the Southern United States until the Civil Rights movement achieved the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

==The Decision==

 

==Negotiating the decision==

Warren acceded to the position of [[Chief Justice]] while ''[[Brown v. Board of Education]]'' was being reargued at the behest of Associate Justice [[Felix Frankfurter]], who ordered re-argument as a stalling tactic, to allow the Court to gather a unanimous consensus around a ''Brown'' opinion that would outlaw [[segregation]].  Chief Justice [[Vinson]] was one such stumbling block.

Warren acceded to the position of [[Chief Justice]] while ''[[Brown v. Board of Education]]'' was being reargued at the behest of Associate Justice [[Felix Frankfurter]], who ordered re-argument as a stalling tactic, to allow the Court to gather a unanimous consensus around a ''Brown'' opinion that would outlaw [[segregation]].  Chief Justice [[Vinson]] was one such stumbling block.

Warren convened a meeting of the justices, and presented to them the simple argument that the only reason to sustain segregation was an honest belief in the inferiority of [[African American]]s.  Warren further submitted that the Court must overrule ''Plessy'' to maintain its legitimacy as an institution of liberty, and it must do so unanimously to avoid massive Southern resistance.  He began to build a unanimous opinion. Although most justices were immediately convinced, Warren spent some time after this famous speech convincing everyone to sign onto the opinion.  Justices Robert Jackson and Stanley Reed finally decided to drop their dissent to what was by then an opinion backed by all the others. The final decision was unanimous.

Warren convened a meeting of the justices, and presented to them the simple argument that the only reason to sustain segregation was an honest belief in the inferiority of [[African American]]s.  Warren further submitted that the Court must overrule ''Plessy'' to maintain its legitimacy as an institution of liberty, and it must do so unanimously to avoid massive Southern resistance.  He began to build a unanimous opinion. Although most justices were immediately convinced, Warren spent some time after this famous speech convincing everyone to sign onto the opinion.  Justices Robert Jackson and Stanley Reed finally decided to drop their dissent to what was by then an opinion backed by all the others. The final decision was unanimous.

The very first case  put Warren's leadership skills to an extraordinary test. The Legal Defense Fund of the NAACP (a small, primarily white legal group separate from the much better known [[NAACP]]) had been waging a systematic legal fight against the "separate but equal" doctrine enunciated in [[Plessy v. Ferguson]] (1896) and finally had challenged Plessy in a series of five related cases, which had been argued before the Court in the spring of 1953. However the justices had been unable to decide the issue and asked to rehear the case in fall 1953, with special attention to whether the Fourteenth Amendment's equal protection clause prohibited the operation of separate public schools for whites and blacks.<ref> See [http://americanhistory.si.edu/Brown/history/index.html Smithsonian, “Separate is Not Equal: Brown v. Board of Education’’]</ref>  

The very first case  put Warren's leadership skills to an extraordinary test. The Legal Defense Fund of the NAACP (a small, primarily white legal group separate from the much better known [[NAACP]]) had been waging a systematic legal fight against the "separate but equal" doctrine enunciated in [[Plessy v. Ferguson]] (1896) and finally had challenged Plessy in a series of five related cases, which had been argued before the Court in the spring of 1953. However the justices had been unable to decide the issue and asked to rehear the case in fall 1953, with special attention to whether the Fourteenth Amendment's equal protection clause prohibited the operation of separate public schools for whites and blacks.<ref> See [http://americanhistory.si.edu/Brown/history/index.html Smithsonian, “Separate is Not Equal: Brown v. Board of Education’’]</ref>  

Warren told his colleagues after oral argument that he believed segregation violated the Constitution and that only if one considered African Americans inferior to whites could the practice be upheld. But he did not push for a vote.  Instead, he talked with the justices and encouraged them to talk with each other as he sought a common ground on which all could stand. Finally he had eight votes, and the last holdout, Stanley Reed of Kentucky, agreed to join the rest. Warren drafted the basic opinion in Brown v. Board of Education (1954) and kept circulating and revising it until he had an opinion endorsed by all the members of the Court.<ref> For text see [http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=347&invol=483 BROWN v. BOARD OF EDUCATION, 347 U.S. 483 (1954)]</ref>  

Warren told his colleagues after oral argument that he believed segregation violated the Constitution and that only if one considered African Americans inferior to whites could the practice be upheld. But he did not push for a vote.  Instead, he talked with the justices and encouraged them to talk with each other as he sought a common ground on which all could stand. Finally he had eight votes, and the last holdout, Stanley Reed of Kentucky, agreed to join the rest. Warren drafted the basic opinion in Brown v. Board of Education (1954) and kept circulating and revising it until he had an opinion endorsed by all the members of the Court.<ref> For text see [http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=347&invol=483 BROWN v. BOARD OF EDUCATION, 347 U.S. 483 (1954)]</ref>  

==Desegregation==

==Desegregation==

The unanimity Warren achieved helped speed the drive to desegregate public schools, which mostly came about under President [[Richard M. Nixon]]. Throughout his years as Chief, Warren succeeded in keeping all decisions concerning segregation unanimous. Brown applied to schools, but soon the Court enlarged the concept to other state actions, striking down racial classification in many areas. Congress ratified the process in the [[Civil Rights Act of 1964]] and the [[Voting Rights Act of 1965]]. Warren did compromise by agreeing to Frankfurter's demand that the Court go slowly in implementing desegregation; Warren used Frankfurter's suggestion that a 1955 decision (Brown II) include the phrase "all deliberate speed."<ref> Robert L. Carter, "The Warren Court and Desegregation," ''Michigan Law Review,'' Vol. 67, No. 2 (Dec., 1968), pp. 237-248 [http://www.jstor.org/pss/1287417 in JSTOR]</ref>  

The unanimity Warren achieved helped speed the drive to desegregate public schools, which mostly came about in 1969-74, during the administration of President [[Richard M. Nixon]]. Throughout his years as Chief, Warren succeeded in keeping all decisions concerning segregation unanimous. Brown applied to schools, but soon the Court enlarged the concept to other state actions, striking down racial classification in many areas. Congress ratified the process in the [[Civil Rights Act of 1964]] and the [[Voting Rights Act of 1965]]. Warren did compromise by agreeing to Frankfurter's demand that the Court go slowly in implementing desegregation; Warren used Frankfurter's suggestion that a 1955 decision (Brown II) include the phrase "all deliberate speed."<ref> Robert L. Carter, "The Warren Court and Desegregation," ''Michigan Law Review,'' Vol. 67, No. 2 (Dec., 1968), pp. 237-248 [http://www.jstor.org/pss/1287417 in JSTOR]</ref>  

The Brown decision of 1954 marked, in dramatic fashion, the radical shift in the Court's--and the nation's--priorities from issues of property rights to civil liberties. Under Warren the courts became an active partner in governing the nation, although still not coequal. Warren never saw the courts as a backward-looking branch of government.  

The Brown decision of 1954 marked, in dramatic fashion, the radical shift in the Court's--and the nation's--priorities from issues of property rights to civil liberties. Under Warren the courts became an active partner in governing the nation, although still not coequal. Warren never saw the courts as a backward-looking branch of government.