On the eve of the 50th anniversary of the landmark case, "Brown vs. the Board of Education", many scholars, writers, and educators published works examining the legacies of the case as well as reflections about the desegregation and integration process.For concise background information about the case, please read "Brown v. Board: An American Legacy".
"In the field of public education," the justices wrote, "the doctrine of 'separate but equal' has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal."
Those words marked the beginning of a long struggle -- a struggle that continues today -- to live up to the promise of equal access to education for all Americans.Then, as now, many people weren't on familiar terms with the names of their Supreme Court justices, bu
t they did know the name of their president. In the days and weeks after May 17, 1954, Americans by the hundreds wrote to tell Dwight D. Eisenhower what they thought about the ruling.Please click on the link directly above to listen to some of the letters written to President Eisenhower. If you are having trouble listening to the media, please read the transcript found in the bottom of each of the pictures in this photo gallery.
When you are finished, please post ONE thing that strikes you in the comments section.
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ReplyDeletei am shocked at how the whites for the most part hate the decision, and that they counter the decision by blaming the blacks for much of the crime the occurs in their community, instead of just allowing them to join.
ReplyDeleteI am shocked that even some of the black people do not like the desegregation. To me, it is such a great thing for the blacks to be able to attend a more "advance" school with better teachers and where the tests score are higher. I do understand that some black people do not want to go to the same place as to where the white people hate them, but still, it is such a great oppurtunity and there's a possibility that the white will eventually learn to not hate them as much.
ReplyDeleteIt stuck me that the verdict of the Brown vs Board of Education was more positve for long term than a short term. It really hurt the blacks who were working in the school and other oppertunities it gave people. At the time it probably seemed like a good choice to desegragate right away but now looking back, it probably could have been achieved in another way that helped the people who were hurt like people who worked in the schools.
ReplyDeleteI was most struck by the excuses that some people made for wanting segregation - one woman even said that black people were more prone to disease because of their carelessness. The other excuse that was especially strange was the idea that desegregation would lead to more interracial marriages. It's amazing the explanations people have to justify their biases.
ReplyDeleteThe thing that shocked me most was the the George W. McLaurin story. The picture says so much. You see a class of all white students facing the front and the a black man in the corner by himself. It's like he's out of sight of the rest of the class. The case said they couldn't reject him because of his race, but it's not as if they fully accepted him. He clearly wouldn't be treated the same and I can't imagine ever feeling welcome in a classroom where you aren't even allowed to sit with your fellow classmates. To me, that's pretty despicable. I'd be embarrassed to be the teacher who made him sit by himself, as if he was a public display forced upon the school instead of another prominent student distinguished only by his actions and abilities as opposed to the color of his skin.
ReplyDeleteThe difference in opinion about the ruling in Brown v Board of Education shocked me the most. There is a sharp contrast in people's opinions over the ruling. Many people agree with the ruling, stating that they are proud to live in the US and that the country is growing up. One person even went to so far as to say that we strive for justice and decency and that when she becomes a teacher, she will be proud to stand in front of an integrated class. On the other side of the spectrum are those who oppose the court's ruling. People believe that Negroes are dirty and that God would have made us with an equal skin color if we were meant to go to school together. They also believe blacks should keep to themselves. One person went so far as to say that this ruling is a step towards Communism/Fascism, which is not true at all; rather it is a step towards fairness and equality for all. I also completely agree with the statement that we still struggle with unequal education and still have unfinished work in the creation of equal education. There are parts of the country where education is strong and other parts where education is weaker and needs to be strengthened. However, it might be a racial issue in terms of the amount of students from all races in a certain school.
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ReplyDeleteI was most struck by the woman who said “Congratulations on one more step towards communism or fascism and a godless era.” So, Brown vs. Board of Education is one more step to a dictator who believes in the utmost superiority of the Aryan race, and who murders anyone who looks different? Brown vs. Board of Education is one step closer to rejecting the idea that we are all the children of God and therefore equal? Do these people even realize what they’re saying? It’s amazing what the human mind can rationalize.
ReplyDeleteWhat surprised me most was that some states considered Mexicans as whites and then took schools and mixed blacks and Mexicans and called them integrated. This is not true integration because many of the schools were still unchanged and mostly white. People were trying to find excuses and ways around segregation, which is not embracing the results of the Brown vs. Board at all.
ReplyDeleteI was really struck by the George W. McLauren picture and story. To me, I barely consider him being actually accepted into the university since he has to sit completely segregated from his classmates. It's ridiculous that schools had to be run this way. By solely being in the same classroom, he should be getting the same education so there is absolutely no point in separating him from the others. It's like his race is constantly being made fun of throughout the class, just by sitting him away from the other students. I can't imagine the embarrassment and frustration that George McLauren must have gone through. This also kind of reminds me of the "dunce cap" that the bad students had to wear for public humiliation during the colonial times.
ReplyDeleteWhat stuck me the most was hearing the schoolgirl asking the president if there was any difference between the races. Her honest curiosity is sobering among such stubborn opinions the adults shared, either for or against the desegregation ruling. Her natural inclination to treat all equally reminds us that it is our nurture, not our nature, that leads us to discriminate against certain races.
ReplyDeleteThe thing that struck me the most was the George W. McLaurin story, as well. The photograph makes it all the more striking, with the man sitting so far apart from the rest of the class. It makes me wonder if the humiliation of being the only one doing so is worth being accepted into the university--it ought to be humiliating, or unnerving, to be singled out like that. And even if he was accepted, there's no guarantee that he was treated the same as the other students. Judging from the way he was separated, I doubt he was. He must have had a hard time.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that shocked me was the letter that one man wrote to Eisenhower in which he stated that there will never be a bench big enough for him to share with a black person. He said he would rather give up his seat completely than share it with a black person. At the end of the letter though, he said that he was nearing complete blindness...and even at the stage of total blindness he would never be caught dead sharing a bench with a person of color. This stood out to me, because if a person is blind, they are obviously blind to color, and everything becomes equal regarding race. He sounds sort of foolish when he says that, since a blind person can not tell black from white.
ReplyDeleteWhat struck me were the schools and buses meant for the black students. They were in terrible condition. The schools were falling apart and the buses did not look safe. It is incredible how long people ignored the clearly separate but UNequal schools. Was society really fooled into thinking the schools were equal, or did they just pretend not to notice?
ReplyDeleteOne of the stories that struck me was "Crossing the Color Line". It is amazing to read about and listen to people who were at the time children around our age making a huge difference. School by school, they were changing the laws of educational segregation. Not only a difference in their community, but a difference in the world that has continued on today and will continue forever. It took so much courage and strength to be able to go against previous laws and beliefs to stand up for the change that you think is right. This just goes to show that anyone in the world can make a positive change with dreams and determination.
ReplyDeleteThe thing that struck me the most was the description of the 3rd photo: A black teacher was not allowed to attend the University of Oklahoma (which was all white) for teaching due to him being black, and that blacks and whites could not attend the same school in Oklahoma. He filed a complaint against the university, and won. They let him study in the school, but he was segregated from the others. This is a clear example of "separate but equal". He is able to attend the school, but separate from others. This surprised me!
ReplyDeleteI was a bit surprised that some of the black people that wrote letters didn't want desegregation, but once I think about it, I can understand why. I don't know if it would be worth so much trouble just to get your kid into a school in which they would be picked on by countless more privelaged children. It seems like a no-win situation to either have that, or be stuck with clearly lower-quality facilities. Then again, the low quality isn't even needed to make the blacks feel inferior, as the white kids in a previously segregated school would serve that purpose anyway...
ReplyDeleteIt shocked me that even after a great accomplishment in civil rights history people still weren't allowed to celebrate. If anything it made people more afraid because of what they could be put through. " Human blood may stain Southern soil in many places because of this decision, but the dark red stains of that blood will be on the marble steps of the United States Supreme Court building.
ReplyDelete"White and Negro children in the same schools will lead to miscegenation. Miscegenation leads to mixed marriages and mixed marriages lead to the mongrelization of the human race."
It was such an issue for blacks and whites to be together that people used scare tactics to keep the blacks quiet. Some blacks feared the out come even because they felt it would make them even more of a target for fighting for their rights. Because people would then see them as a threat.
What really shocked me was the reasons people came up with for segregation to continue. In some of the letters to President Eisenhower the people seemed to pull their statistics out of thin air. Like the women who believed that black people get more illnesses then white people. The excuses people can come up with just so they don't have to do something tough are amazing.
ReplyDeleteI was shocked by the difference in opinion over the ruling in this case. The justices said it themselves that in this world seperate but equal school systems are impossible the only way to have the equal rights to education is if you integrate the schools in one so that all kids are offered the same education.Many devoted poeple agreed with the ruling saying they thought that schools need to be integrated too to protect poeples right to equal education under the constitution. Some other poeple thought went insane over this ruling saying it was unfiar and that this country was founded on the fact that blacks and whites are not equal. To me these are poeple who cannot transition with the times. These poeple are wrong and unjustified in their ways
ReplyDeleteThese are really impressive reflections thus far! Nice work!
ReplyDeleteThe thing that struck me the most at first was how some of the black people didn't like the idea of desegregation. I thought that the idea of being able to be treated equally and having a better education available for their children would be appealing to them. But after I thought about it I realized that it would still be very difficult to truly live equally among whites and blacks, and that the blacks realized this. Just because it was stated that desegregation would be officially practiced, there were still clear tensions between both groups of people.
ReplyDeleteI can understand that some blacks hesitate to want to go to schools where white people are because they know that the majority of the whites at that time did not want them there. However, I was shocked to hear that black people did get a lot of negative feedback from other blacks because of the hesitation to integrate schools. It's a great opportunity to have better teachers, more advanced classes, and just the change in general for the society at that time was something blacks strived for and most blacks were very happy to finally achieve, so it's surprising to me that some people would ignore all of that because of the way whites feel toward them.
ReplyDeleteWhat surprised me was the varied response among blacks and whites. One would think it would be more clear cut on who would prefer what, but seeing that some whites weren't happen with the decision and that some blacks didn't mind segregation was kind of shocking.
ReplyDeleteI thought some of the responses by the white people were absolutly ridiculous. I think they were forgetting the fact that everyone is America is promised equal rights especially when it comes to education. It seemed like their main concern was to have their children associating with black children when in relaity that would be the last reason why black families would want to be sending their children to intergrated schools. They want their children to have a good education and the same education provided for other children, I think they could care less if there children were interacting with white children or not, they shouldn't try to cover up the issue of having a good education with their own racist thoughts, color doesn't determine who gets a good education or not.
ReplyDeleteWhat kind of struck me the most was the the letter from June Rice. In the beginning of her letter she says "It is thrilling to know that there are some people who carry over sunday sermon into mondays living" then when she is saying the pledge of allegience she leaves out the "under god" and just says " one nation, indivisable"....I don't know I guess I just thought that it was a little weird.
-Tanya
One thing that really surprised me was the woman who said that if America was meant to be desegregated, then God would have made everyone either black or everyone white. Of all the illogical rationalizations that were made by the letter writers, this one was the strangest to me. It wasn't about the person's background to her, or even about made up statistics on disease and morals, she had a problem with the color of their skin.
ReplyDeleteI was surprised by how harsh some of the language was in the letters. Those who were against the desegregation of schools were calling black people names such as "dogs" or "niggers". They described them like they weren't human. I was expecting most of the letters to be like this, so I was a little shocked to hear some letters from people who were proud of the new idea of desegregation.
ReplyDeleteI expected derogatory insults such as 'niggers' and the such in the letter, but I did not expect many of them viewing all blacks as disease-ridden, careless, immoral, violent race. I guess I didn't really realize how deep ridden people's distrust and hate were to other races as I watched the documentaries and read the reports.
ReplyDeleteWhat I also found was interesting was the off-handish, indifferent attitudes of some black figures. They thought that the Brown case wouldn't change anything.
I think it is ridiculous that parents will withdraw their children from the school when the school was desegregated. It is not going to harm their children to be desegregated. In one case one little girl joined a white school. This caused a couple of parents to withdraw their children! She is just an other kid. Whit her being there the other kids will benefit. What do these people think is going to happen to their kids that they need to withdraw them? Why should this girl's dad loose his job over where his daughter goes to school? They are two totally separate matters!
ReplyDeleteIt struck me how hypocritical the first woman was in her letter. She says that she is all for equal rights and education and advantages for African Americans, but does not want segregation or intermarriage. How can there be equal rights and segregation at the same time?
ReplyDeleteI thought it interesting how many of the people thought it was necessary for them to declare that they were good Christians and southerners in their letters.
Also, I found the views of most of the white writers ridiculous. So many of them believed that African Americans were violent, disease-ridden, criminals.
This might be the first time I'm posting a "happy" comment on the blog, and it's all because of that last letter:
ReplyDeleteJune 2nd, 1954
Mr. Dwight D. Eisenhower, President of the United States, Dear Sir:
I would like to congratulate you on your success in passing the law about negroes going to public schools. I would like to know if there is any difference between the white race and the negro race, and why some parents disagree with having white and negro children go to school together.
Respectfully,
Sarah Jane Godwin
Age 10
Burbank, California
This little girl's innocence and sincerity really underscore how much race is a figment of society's collective imagination. She's ten years old, so that's fourth/fifth grade; she's not exactly a clueless toddler. And yet she doesn't see what's so different about having darker or lighter skin, and goes so far as to question the POTUS about it.
After listening to all those other letters reaffirming the idiocy and hatred that people are capable of, there's something beautifully comforting about Sarah Jane Godwin's words. She gives you a reason to believe that we, as human beings, still possess a fundamental shred of decency, and are capable of acting towards one another in a spirit of brother-/sisterhood.
(I just hope to God that whoever ended up explaining race to this little girl wasn't a knucklehead like some of those other letter writers.)
What struck me was how many problems for both black and whites desegregation initially caused. I thought that more people would be excited about desegregation of schools because that seems like something that would help the country move towards inequality. I sort of overlooked how difficult it might be for a black person to not only hold their ground, but also learn, in a school where almost every other student is white.
ReplyDeleteSorry for late posting, but i just realized that there was homework given on monday, because i missed monday and tuesday due to an illness.
ReplyDeleteThe thing that struck me most was the following case:
George W. McLaurin
School teacher George W. McLaurin applied to the all-white University of Oklahoma to pursue an advance degree in education in 1948. He was initially rejected because Oklahoma statutes made it illegal for blacks and whites to attend the same school. McLaurin filed a complaint against the university and won. He was allowed to attend classes but was segregated from other students.
Especially the picture that was next to the text was really interesting. He basically was allowed to be in class, but he had to be separated form the other students, which is ridicolus. What did they think he is? some random guy with contagious sicknesses? he was an educated teacher, so why would he do anything brutal or dangerous? It was probably really frustrating to get to face the racism all the time through being separated from other, white students who are actually on the same educational level like he is. I think it would have been interesting to know how his life was characterized there, because of this separation and if his learning progress was influenced by the separation.
Benni
The letter that struck me the most was from the ten year old girl who asked that president what the differences was amongst different races. At that age children are truly innocent and does not get why people are judged based on their skin color. I thought that this was interesting because from an early age children are basically ignorant to the fact that there are differences between one another, it is only when they grow up and are exposed to the view points of other around them that they start to form opinions based on what they have been exposed to.
ReplyDeleteThe letters that shocked me the most were the letters that contained an incredibly high level of hatred. Some of the things that were being written were just mean. The knowledge that was attained based on the opposite race was only gained from one or two bad encounters, or just hearing about a bad encounter from another person. It is just sad to see how much hatred the human race as a whole, its hard to think that if we were in a different decade how we would be affected by these matters.
ReplyDeletethe thing that suprised me the most about the article was the reaction of not only the whites, but also the blacks about the idea to desegregate. I would have imagined that whites would have been upset, but that blacks would be excited at the chance to go to better schools. Probably knowing that it was such a huge deal made it that much worse for them, and that much bigger of a deal. Getting an equal education should be expected, not something shocking.
ReplyDeleteI was struck by how strange it was to see such conflict centered around a school, though I should not have been. Personally, I go to school and have never thought of it as anything, but a place of learning- without major tensions. The schools of those times were battlegrounds of human rights, and an entire race was seeking equality, with one of the forefronts being education. To see national issues, hatreds, and blatant prejudices revealed all on schoolgrounds to such a degree was an eye-opener.
ReplyDeletei was shocked that whites did not want their children going to school with blacks but did not care about intergated sports. I do not understand why intergated schools where such a major issue when the color lines have been crossed.
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ReplyDeleteWhat struck me the most was that so many people believed these schools to be equal, even though they were separate. By looking at the pictures, it is very clear that these school systems are very UNEQUAL and not even close to being in good condition. Buildings are very run down and old, and many of the buses were broken or looked like they were about to break apart. It does not look like an adequate environment for children, of any kind, and I am shocked that people believed it was a proper school for kids to attend.
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