The Anniversary of Brown
On May 17, 1954, some 56 years ago today, the Supreme Court of the United States handed down its decision in the landmark case of Brown v. the Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. In the ruling the court declared that state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students and denying black children equal educational opportunities were unconstitutional.
Following the ruling, President Dwight D. Eisenhower told District of Columbia officials to make Washington a model for the rest of the country in integrating black and white public school children. He proposed to Congress the Civil Rights Acts of 1957 and 1960 and signed those acts into law. Although both Acts were weaker than subsequent civil rights legislation, they constituted the first significant civil rights acts since the Civil Rights Act of 1875, signed by President Ulysses S. Grant.
Not everyone accepted the court's ruling, leading to a number of famous civil rights confrontations in the 1950s and 60s. In 1957, Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus called out his state's National Guard to block black students' entry to Little Rock High School. The "Little Rock Nine" incident of 1957 involved the refusal by Arkansas to honor a Federal court order to integrate the schools. Under Executive Order 10730, Eisenhower placed the Arkansas National Guard under Federal control and sent Army troops to escort nine black students into Little Rock Central High School, an all-white public school. The integration did not occur without violence. Eisenhower and Arkansas governor Orval Faubus engaged in tense arguments and Eisenhower deployed some of the 101st Airborne Division from Fort Campbell, Kentucky, to Arkansas.
In 1963, Alabama Governor George Wallace personally blocked the door to Foster Auditorium at the University of Alabama to prevent the enrollment of two black students. This became the infamous Stand in the Schoolhouse Door where Wallace personally backed his "segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever" policy that he had stated in his 1963 inaugural address. He moved aside only when confronted by General Henry Graham of the Alabama National Guard, who was ordered by President John F. Kennedy to intervene.
Today, Kansas is home to the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum (in Abeline.) It's also home to the Brown v. Board of Education Museum in Topeka. Three years ago, in 2007, I was fortunate to visit both. The Brown Museum especially leaves one with a sense of solemnity and of compassion for those children who would have had to endure the taunts and wrath of those blinded by bigotry and prejudice against them. I leave you, behind the cut, with some of the pictures from that visit.
In my personal journal on September 26, 2007, I wrote:
"The Brown v. Board of Education Museum in Topeka gives a powerful message against racism and for tolerance of all."
Following the ruling, President Dwight D. Eisenhower told District of Columbia officials to make Washington a model for the rest of the country in integrating black and white public school children. He proposed to Congress the Civil Rights Acts of 1957 and 1960 and signed those acts into law. Although both Acts were weaker than subsequent civil rights legislation, they constituted the first significant civil rights acts since the Civil Rights Act of 1875, signed by President Ulysses S. Grant.
Not everyone accepted the court's ruling, leading to a number of famous civil rights confrontations in the 1950s and 60s. In 1957, Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus called out his state's National Guard to block black students' entry to Little Rock High School. The "Little Rock Nine" incident of 1957 involved the refusal by Arkansas to honor a Federal court order to integrate the schools. Under Executive Order 10730, Eisenhower placed the Arkansas National Guard under Federal control and sent Army troops to escort nine black students into Little Rock Central High School, an all-white public school. The integration did not occur without violence. Eisenhower and Arkansas governor Orval Faubus engaged in tense arguments and Eisenhower deployed some of the 101st Airborne Division from Fort Campbell, Kentucky, to Arkansas.
In 1963, Alabama Governor George Wallace personally blocked the door to Foster Auditorium at the University of Alabama to prevent the enrollment of two black students. This became the infamous Stand in the Schoolhouse Door where Wallace personally backed his "segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever" policy that he had stated in his 1963 inaugural address. He moved aside only when confronted by General Henry Graham of the Alabama National Guard, who was ordered by President John F. Kennedy to intervene.
Today, Kansas is home to the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum (in Abeline.) It's also home to the Brown v. Board of Education Museum in Topeka. Three years ago, in 2007, I was fortunate to visit both. The Brown Museum especially leaves one with a sense of solemnity and of compassion for those children who would have had to endure the taunts and wrath of those blinded by bigotry and prejudice against them. I leave you, behind the cut, with some of the pictures from that visit.
In my personal journal on September 26, 2007, I wrote:
"The Brown v. Board of Education Museum in Topeka gives a powerful message against racism and for tolerance of all."