Brown V Topeka, 1954

Question 1

What did NAACP do in 1952?

Answer 1

• took 5 desegregation cases to supreme court
• known as Brown versus the Board of Education, Topeka

Question 2

What did the Brown v Topeka case argue against?

Answer 2

• the principle of “separate but equal” in schools was unconstitutional

Question 3

What was the short term significance of Brown V Topeka?

Answer 3

• Brown rulings overturned Plessey V Ferguson decision of 1896
• white backlash and KKK grew
• black students, teachers, and families faced threats and hostility in desegregated schools
• southern states found ways to avoid complying with rulings

Question 4

What was the long term significance of Brown v Topeka?

Answer 4

• people more aware of Civil rights issues
• rulings were inspiration for other desegregation campaigns
• whites moved out of areas where blacks lived to avoid forced desegregation

Question 5

What were the events of Brown V Topeka?

Answer 5

• 1952 - NAACP took school segregation cases to supreme court, claiming segregated schools broke 14th amendment
• Dec 1952 - Earl Warren becomes chief justice
• May 1954 - Supreme Court ruled segregated education was unconstitutional
• July 1954 - White Citizens Council set up in deep south
• May 1955 - Second court ruling said desegregation of schools to happen with ‘all deliberate speed’
• 1957 - 723 school districts desegregated