50th Anniversary of Brown Versus Board of Education

50TH ANNIVERSARY OF BROWN VERSUS BOARD OF EDUCATION

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I commemorate the 50th anniversary of the landmark United States Supreme Court decision, Brown v. Board of Education.

On May 17, 1954, Justice Earl Warren read the unanimous decision of the United States Supreme Court, which stated, "We conclude that, in the field of public education, the doctrine of 'separate but equal' has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal."

The decision made a statement about the course that this country needed to take to achieve the greatness that we, as a Nation, are capable of achieving. Brown v. Board of Education became the measure of equality-and a platform on which the civil rights era was born.

In December 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery, AL, bus to a white person and was arrested.
This sparked an outrage in the African American community, who decided to boycott the city's buses as a way to challenge the city's segregation laws. The boycott led to a 1956 Supreme Court decision that banned segregated buses.

In September 1957, the commitment to equality in education was reiterated in Little Rock, AK, when President Eisenhower sent troops to Central High School to uphold the Supreme Court's desegregation order protecting the rights of the "Little Rock Nine."

In 1960, four freshmen from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College in Greensboro, NC, were refused service at a lunch counter at the F.W. Woolworth Store. They sat quietly, without being served, until the store's closing. The next day, they returned with 25 more students from the college. Peaceful protests at lunch counters across the country were initiated and lasted for weeks. The lunch counter protests resulted in a number of stores integrating prior to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

On October 1, 1962, federal officials escorted James Meredith, as he became the first African American to enroll at, and later graduate from, the University of Mississippi.

On August 28, 1963, hundreds of thousands of marchers-of all races-descended on Washington, DC to urge Congress to pass legislation to provide equal access to public facilities, quality education, sufficient employment and housing options for African Americans.

The Brown decision and the events flowing from it were major catalysts that led the way for the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Fair Housing Act of 1968.

While we must never lose sight of the benefit and the power of the Brown v. Board of Education decision, we must not believe that the fight for true equality is over and won.

Fifty years later, our country is struggling along the path toward a truly equal society. Unfortunately, today, in many areas, we are still separate and unequal. Individuals come to work in integrated environments and return home to segregated neighborhoods. Parents send their children to schools that seem to be returning to those reminiscent of the days of segregation.

The road to Brown v. Board of Education was not an easy one, nor was it swift. So, on this, the 50th Anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education decision, it is important that we not only recognize the struggle behind the Civil Rights movement, but that we rededicate ourselves to the goal of providing equal opportunity for all.