Timeline of Events Leading to the Brown v. Board of Education Decision, 1954
1857
Dred Scott, Plaintiff in Error v. John F. A. Sanford
The Supreme Court held that Blacks, enslaved or free, could not be citizens of the United States. Chief Justice Taney, arguing from the original intentions of the framers of the 1787 Constitution, stated that at the time of the adoption of the Constitution, Black people were considered a subordinate and inferior class of beings, "with no rights which the White man was bound to respect."
Significance: The Supreme Court denied citizenship to Black people, setting the stage for their treatment as second class citizens.
1865
Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands
The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, also known as the Freedmen's Bureau,was established by an act of Congress on March 3, 1865. Its main mission was to provide relief and help freedmen become self-sufficient in all areas of life.
Significance: The first Black schools were set up under the direction of the Freedmen’s Bureau. One of those schools – Howard University – would eventually train and graduate the majority of the legal team that overturned Plessy, including Charles Hamilton Houston and Thurgood Marshall.
1865
Black Codes
Black Codes was a name given to laws passed by southern governments established during the presidency of Andrew Johnson. These laws imposed severe restrictions on freedmen, such as prohibiting their right to vote, forbidding them to sit on juries, and limiting their right to testify against white men. They were also forbidden from carrying weapons in public places and working in certain occupations.
Significance: Segregation Begins - Public schools were segregated, and Blacks were barred from serving on juries, and testifying against Whites.
1866
Civil Rights Act of 1866
The Civil Rights Act of 1866 guaranteed Blacks basic economic
rights to contract, sue, and own property. Significance: The intention of this law was to protect all persons
in the United States, including Blacks, in their civil rights.
1868
The 14th Amendment to the Constitution is ratified.
Significance: The 14th Amendment overruled Dred Scott v. Sanford. It guaranteed that all persons born or naturalized in the United States are citizens of the United States and of the state in which they reside, and that no state shall abridge the privileges and immunities of citizens, deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, nor deny to any person the equal protection of the law.
1873
Slaughterhouse Cases
These cases narrowly defined federal power and emasculated the Fourteenth
Amendment by asserting that most of the rights of citizens remain under
state control.Significance: Pro-segregation states would come to justify their
policies based on the notion that segregation in their public school systems
was a state’s rights issue.
1875
Civil Rights Act of 1875
In March, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1875,
prohibiting discrimination in inns, theaters, and other places of public
accommodation. It was the last Federal civil rights act passed until 1957.
Significance:
Discrimination in places of public accommodation was prohibited.
1883
Civil Rights Cases
The Supreme Court overturned the Civil Rights Act of 1875, and declared
that the Fourteenth Amendment does not prohibit discrimination by private
individuals or businesses.Significance: The Court declared that the Fourteenth Amendment
does not prohibit discrimination by private individuals or businesses,
paving the way for segregation in public education.
1887
Jim Crow
The practices of comprehensive racial segregation known as "Jim
Crow" emerged, and racial separation becomes entrenched. Significance: Blacks largely disappeared from juries in the
South.
Florida was the first state to enact a statute requiring segregation
in places of public accommodation. Eight other states followed Florida's
lead by 1892.
1896
Homer Adolph Plessy, Plaintiff in Error v. J.H. Ferguson,
Judge of Section "A" Criminal District Court for the Parish
of Orleans
Homer A. Plessy challenged an 1890 Louisiana law that required separate train cars for Black Americans and White Americans. The Supreme Court held that separate but equal facilities for White and Black railroad passengers did not violate the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.
Significance: Plessy v. Ferguson established the
“separate but equal” doctrine that would become the constitutional
basis for segregation.
Justice John Marshall Harlan, the lone dissenter in Plessy, argued
that forced segregation of the races stamped Blacks with a badge of inferiority.
That same line of argument would become a decisive factor in the Brown
v. Board decision.
1899
Cumming v. Board of Education of Richmond County, State of Georgia
The Supreme Court upheld a local school board's decision to close a free
public Black school due to fiscal constraints, despite the fact that the
district continued to operate two free public white schools.
Significance: The Court’s opinion argued that there was
no evidence in the record that the decision was based on racial discrimination
and that the distribution of public funds for public education was within
the discretion of school authorities.
1908
Thurgood Marshall is born in Baltimore, MD, on July 2nd.
Significance: Thurgood Marshall would become lead counsel in
the Brown v. Board of Education case.
1908
Berea College v. Commonwealth of Kentucky
The Supreme Court upheld a Kentucky state law forbidding interracial
instruction at all schools and colleges in the state. Significance: The NAACP became the primary tool for the legal
attack on segregation, eventually trying the Brown v. Board
of Education case.
1909
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People founded
W.E.B. DuBois, Ida Wells-Barnett, Mary White Ovington, and others founded
the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
Their mission was to eliminate lynching, and to fight racial and social
injustice, primarily through legal action. Significance: The NAACP became the primary tool for the legal
attack on segregation, eventually trying the Brown v. Board
of Education case.
1927
Gong Lum v. Rice
In Gong Lum v. Rice the Supreme Court held that a Mississippi
school district may require a Chinese-American girl to attend a segregated
Black school rather than a White school.Significance: The Court applied the "separate but equal"
formulation of Plessy v. Ferguson to the public schools.
1935
NAACP begins challenging segregation in graduate and secondary
schools.
Assisted by his protege Thurgood Marshall, Charles Hamilton Houston, of
the NAACP, began his strategy of challenging segregation in graduate and
professional schools.
Significance: Houston developed a legal strategy that would
eventually lead to victory over segregation in the nation’s schools
through the Brown v. Board case. Houston’s rationale
for attacking segregated law schools was largely two-pronged. First, the
establishment of separate but equal law school facilities for Black and
White students would become too costly for the states. Second, White judges
who matriculated in some of the nation’s finest law schools could
not, in good conscience, suggest that Black lawyers in segregated schools
received "equal" legal training.
1938
State of Missouri ex rel. Gaines v. Canada
The Supreme Court decided in favor of Lloyd Gaines, a Black student who
had been refused admission to the University of Missouri Law School. Significance: This case set a precedent for other states to
attempt to "equalize" Black school facilities, rather than integrate
them. The Court held that the state must furnish Gaines "within its
borders facilities for legal education substantially equal to those which
the State there offered for the persons of the white race, whether or
not other Negroes sought the same opportunity."
1939
Thurgood Marshall named special counsel of the NAACP
Marshall succeeded his mentor, Charles Hamilton Houston.
Significance: Thurgood Marshall would eventually lead counsel
in the Brown v. Board of Education case.
1948
The NAACP board of directors formally endorsed Thurgood Marshall's view
on segregation strategy.
By adopting Marshall's view, the NAACP decided to devote its efforts solely
to an all-out attack on segregation in education, rather than pressing for
the equalization of segregated facilities. Significance: The NAACP defense team attacked the "equal"
standard so that the "separate" standard would, in turn, become
vulnerable.
1948
Sipuel v. Board of Regents of University of Oklahoma
A unanimous Supreme Court held that Lois Ada Sipuel could not be denied
entrance to a state law school solely because of her race. Significance: The Court ruled denial of entrance to a state
law school solely on the basis of race unconstitutional.
1949
Briggs et al. v. Elliott et al.
Thurgood Marshall and NAACP officials met with Black residents of Clarendon
County, SC. They decided that the NAACP would launch a test case against
segregation in public schools if at least 20 plaintiffs could be found.
By November, Harry Briggs and 19 other plaintiffs were assembled, and the
NAACP filed a class action lawsuit against the Clarendon County School Board.
Significance: Briggs v. Elliott became one of
the cases consolidated by the Supreme Court into Brown v. Board
of Education.
1950
Sweatt v. Painter
The Supreme Court held that the University of Texas Law School must admit
a Black student, Herman Sweatt. The University of Texas Law School was far
superior in its offerings and resources to the separate Black law school,
which had been hastily established in a downtown basement. Significance: The Supreme Court held that Texas failed to provide
separate but equal education, prefiguring the future opinion in Brown
that "separate but equal is inherently unequal."
1950
McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents
The Supreme Court invalidated the University of Oklahoma's requirement
that a Black student, admitted to a graduate program unavailable to him
at the state's Black school, sit in separate sections of or in spaces adjacent
to the classroom, library, and cafeteria.Significance: The Supreme Court held that these restrictions
were unconstitutional because it interfered with his "ability to
study, to engage in discussions, and exchange views with other students,
and, in general, to learn his profession."
1950
Bolling v. Sharpe
Charles Houston provided legal representation for the Consolidated Parents
Group, who, under the direction of Gardner Bishop, attempted to enroll a
group of Black students in all White John Philip Sousa Junior High School,
in Washington, D.C. Significance: The Bolling case became one of the consolidated
Brown cases. The U. S. Supreme Court would eventually file a separate
opinion on Bolling because the 14th Amendment was not applicable
in Washington, D.C.
1951
February
On February 28, Brown v. Board of Education was filed in
Federal district court, in Kansas.
1951
May
Davis et al. v. County School Board of Prince Edward County, Virginia,
et al.
NAACP lawyer Spottswood Robinson filed Davis v. Prince Edward County, a challenge to Virginia's segregated schools.
Significance: Davis et al.ICounty School Board of Prince Edward County, Virginia, et al., was another of the cases eventually consolidated as Brown v. Board of Education.
Briggs et al. v. Elliott et al.
This South Carolina case went to trial. Marshall and the NAACP presented a vast array of social science evidence showing how segregation harmed Black school children, including evidence from sociologist Kenneth Clark's controversial "Doll Study."
Significance: The U. S. District Court denied the Briggs
plaintiff’s request to order desegregation of Clarendon County,
SC, schools and instead ordered the equalization of Black schools. Judge
Julius Waring was the lone dissenter.
1951
June
Brown v. Board of Education
Robert Carter led the NAACP legal team into trial.
Significance: In August, a three-judge panel at the U. S. District Court unanimously held in the Brown v. Board of Education case that "no willful, intentional or substantial discrimination" existed in Topeka’s schools. The U. S. District Court found that the physical facilities in White and Black schools were comparable and that the lower court’s decisions in Sweatt v. Painter and McLaurin only applied to graduate education.
1951
October
Gebhart et al. v. Belton et al.; Gebhart et al. v. Bulah
et al.; Belton et al. v. Gebhart et al.; Bulah et al. v. Gebhart
et al.
These cases went to trial.
1952
March
Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County, VA
The U. S. District court found in favor of the school board under the theory of "separate but equal."
Significance: The U. S. District Court unanimously rejected the Davis plaintiffs’ request to order desegregation of Prince Edward County, VA, schools, ordering the "equalization" of Black schools instead.
1952
April
Gebhart et al. v. Belton et al.; Gebhart et al. v.
Bulah et al.; Belton et al. v. Gebhart et al.; Bulah et al.
v. Gebhart et al.
A Delaware court ruled that the plaintiffs were entitled to immediate admission to White public schools.
Significance: In both of the Gebhart cases, the court
ruled that the plaintiffs were being denied equal protection of the law
and ordered that the 11 children involved be immediately admitted to Delaware’s
White schools. The board of education appealed the decision.
1952
June
The Supreme Court announced that it would hear oral arguments in Briggs and Brown during the upcoming October 1952 term.
1952
October
The Bundling of the Brown v. Board Cases
Days before arguments were to be heard in Briggs and Brown, the Supreme Court announced a postponement. Three weeks later, the Court announced that it would also hear the Delaware cases, as well as Davis v. Prince Edward County and the District of Columbia case, Bolling et al. v. Sharpe et al.
Significance: The Supreme Court agreed to hear all five of the school desegregation cases collectively. This grouping was significant because it showed school segregation as a national issue, not just a southern one.
[Note: The U. S. Supreme Court eventually rendered a separate opinion on Bolling v. Sharpe because the 14th Amendment to the U. S. Constitution was not applicable in the District of Columbia.]
1952
December 9th – 11th
First round of arguments held in Brown and its companion cases.
1953
June
The Supreme Court ordered that a second round of arguments in Brown v. Board be heard in October.
1953
September
Chief Justice Fred Vinson Jr. died unexpectedly of a heart attack on
the 8th. President Eisenhower nominated California Governor Earl Warren
to replace Vinson as interim Chief on the 30th. The Court rescheduled arguments
in Brown for December. Significance: Justice Earl Warren would go on to deliver the unanimous ruling in the Brown v. Board case.
1953
December 7th – 9th
Second round of arguments in Brown v. Board of Education.
1954
March
The Senate confirmed Earl Warren as Chief Justice.
1954
May 17
Brown v. Board of Education
The Court overturned Plessy v. Ferguson, and declared that
racial segregation in public schools violated the Equal Protection clause
of the 14th Amendment. Bolling v. Sharpe
That same day, the Court held that racial segregation in the District of Columbia public schools violated the Due Process clause of the 5th Amendment in Bolling v. Sharpe.
The Court scheduled arguments on remedy in Brown for October but eventually put them off until April of 1955.
Significance: The Court ruled that state-sanctioned segregation
of public schools was a violation of the 14th Amendment and was, therefore,
unconstitutional. In the wake of the decision, the District of Columbia
and some school districts in the border states began to desegregate their
schools voluntarily.
State legislatures in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, and
Virginia adopted resolutions of "interposition and nullification"
that declared the Court's decision to be "null, void, and no effect."
Various southern legislatures passed laws that imposed sanctions on anyone
who implemented desegregation, and enacted school closing plans that authorized
the suspension of public education, and the disbursement of public funds
to parents to send their children to private schools.
1954
October
After the sudden death of Justice Jackson, President Eisenhower nominated
John Marshall Harlan, the grandson of the lone dissenter in Plessy,
to fill the vacancy. After long hearings before the Senate, Harlan was finally
sworn in as an Associate Justice in March of 1955.
1955
April
The Supreme Court heard its third round of arguments in Brown,
this time concerning remedies.
May 31: Brown II
On the last day of the term, the Supreme Court handed down Brown
II, ordering that desegregation occur with "all deliberate speed."
Significance: Brown II was intended to work out the mechanics of desegregation. Due to the vagueness of the term "all deliberate speed," many states were able to stall the Court’s order to desegregate their schools. The legal and social obstacles that southern states put in place and encouraged, in their effort to thwart integration, served as a catalyst for the student protests that launched the civil rights movement.
Brown v. Board of Education Main Page
