who was the lawyer that won the 1954 case brown vs. board of education topeka

by Prof. Adolphus Rau DDS 9 min read

Thurgood Marshall

Full Answer

What was the Brown v Board of Education of Topeka?

In a subsequent opinion on the question of relief, commonly referred to as Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (II), argued April 11–14, 1955, and decided on May 31 of that year, Warren ordered the district courts and local school authorities to take appropriate steps to integrate public schools in their jurisdictions “with all deliberate...

Who was the plaintiff in the Brown v Board case?

Thanks for watching! In the case that would become most famous, a plaintiff named Oliver Brown filed a class-action suit against the Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, in 1951, after his daughter, Linda Brown, was denied entrance to Topeka’s all-white elementary schools.

What did Chief Justice Warren say in Brown v Board of Education?

Westminster and when Brown v. Board of Education was reheard, Warren was able to bring the Justices to a unanimous decision. On May 14, 1954, Chief Justice Warren delivered the opinion of the Court, stating, "We conclude that, in the field of public education, the doctrine of "separate but equal" has no place.

What was the Warren v Topeka case?

Board of Education of Topeka (II), argued April 11–14, 1955, and decided on May 31 of that year, Warren ordered the district courts and local school authorities to take appropriate steps to integrate public schools in their jurisdictions “with all deliberate speed.” Public schools in Southern states, however,...

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Who was the lawyer who won the Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education 1954 which made segregation in public schools illegal?

Thurgood MarshallThurgood Marshall, the head of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, served as chief attorney for the plaintiffs.

Who was the lawyer in Brown v Board?

Thurgood MarshallThe U.S. Supreme Court case, Brown v. Board of Education, was bundled with four related cases and a decision was rendered on May 17, 1954. Three lawyers, Thurgood Marshall (center), chief counsel for the NAACP's Legal Defense Fund and lead attorney on the Briggs case, with George E. C. Hayes (left) and James M.

What lawyer argued Brown vs the Board of Education?

Thurgood MarshallThe NAACP's chief counsel, Thurgood Marshall—who was later appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1967—argued the case before the Supreme Court for the plaintiffs.

Who was the name of the lawyer for Brown during the Brown v Board of Ed Supreme Court case?

Thurgood Marshall' Fifty years ago today, the Supreme Court heard final arguments in the landmark case of Brown v. Board of Education. NPR's Juan Williams traces the story of Thurgood Marshall, who led the fight to desegregate public schools and later went on to become the first African American on the Supreme Court.

Did Thurgood Marshall win the Brown vs Board of Education?

Having won these cases, and thus, establishing precedents for chipping away Jim Crow laws in higher education, Marshall succeeded in having the Supreme Court declare segregated public schools unconstitutional in Brown v. Board of Education (1954).

Who argued the Brown case?

Thurgood MarshallCounty School Board of Prince Edward County (1952). Brown v. Board of Education was argued on December 9, 1952. The attorney for the plaintiffs was Thurgood Marshall, who later became the first African American to serve on the Supreme Court (1967–91).

Did Thurgood Marshall have children?

Thurgood Marshall, Jr.John W. MarshallThurgood Marshall/Children

What was the outcome of Brown v. Board of Education?

In this milestone decision, the Supreme Court ruled that separating children in public schools on the basis of race was unconstitutional. It signaled the end of legalized racial segregation in the schools of the United States, overruling the "separate but equal" principle set forth in the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson case.

Who was the first black person on the Supreme Court?

lawyer Thurgood MarshallJohnson nominated distinguished civil rights lawyer Thurgood Marshall to be the first African American justice to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States. Marshall had already made his mark in American law, having won 29 of the 32 cases he argued before the Supreme Court, most notably the landmark case Brown v.

Why is Thurgood Marshall so famous?

Thurgood Marshall was a civil rights lawyer who used the courts to fight Jim Crow and dismantle segregation in the U.S. Marshall was a towering figure who became the nation's first Black United States Supreme Court Justice. He is best known for arguing the historic 1954 Brown v.

What did the Supreme Court decide in Brown v. Board of Education?

In Brown v. Board of Education, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that racial segregation in public schools violated the Fourteenth Amendmen...

What is the significance of Brown v. Board of Education?

Brown v. Board of Education is considered a milestone in American civil rights history and among the most important rulings in the history of the U...

What was the aftermath of Brown v. Board of Education?

After the Brown v. Board of Education decision, there was wide opposition to desegregation, largely in the southern states. Violent protests erupte...

When was Brown v. Board of Education decided?

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Brown v. Board of Education on May 17, 1954. The case had been argued before the Court on December 9, 1952, and rea...

Who was the attorney for the plaintiffs in Brown v. Board of Education?

In Brown v. Board of Education, the attorney for the plaintiffs was Thurgood Marshall. He later became, in 1967, the first African American to serv...

When was Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka argued?

In a subsequent opinion on the question of relief, commonly referred to as Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (II), argued April 11–14, 1955, and decided on May 31 of that year, Warren ordered the district courts and local school authorities to take appropriate steps to integrate public schools in their jurisdictions “with all deliberate speed.”.

Who argued the Board of Education of Topeka?

Board of Education of Topeka was argued on December 9, 1952; the attorney who argued on behalf of the plaintiffs was Thurgood Marshall, who later served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court (1967–91). The case was reargued on December 8, 1953, to address the question of whether the framers of the Fourteenth Amendment would have understood ...

Why was the plaintiff's right to equal protection violated in Gebhart v. Belton?

Belton (1952), however, the Delaware Court of Chancery, also relying on Plessy, found that the plaintiffs’ right to equal protection had been violated because the African American schools were inferior to the white schools in almost all relevant respects.

When was segregation of schools declared unconstitutional?

Washington, D.C.: Education. Supreme Court ruling ( Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka) in 1954 that declared racial segregation of public schools to be unconstitutional. Instead of reducing prejudice and discrimination, however, the decision increased fear among residents ...

What did Ferguson's decision mean?

Ferguson (1896), according to which laws mandating separate public facilities for whites and African Americans do not violate the equal-protection clause if the facilities are approximately equal. Although the 1954 decision strictly applied only to public schools, it implied that segregation was not permissible in other public facilities. ...

Description

The U.S. Supreme Court case, Brown v. Board of Education, was bundled with four related cases and a decision was rendered on May 17, 1954. Three lawyers, Thurgood Marshall (center), chief counsel for the NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund and lead attorney on the Briggs case, with George E. C. Hayes (left) and James M.

Source-Dependent Questions

The phrase "equal justice under law" is featured in this photograph. It was proposed by the architects planning the U.S. Supreme Court building and then approved by the justices in 1932. What does “equal justice under law” mean?

Citation Information

"George E. C. Hayes, Thurgood Marshall, and James M. Nabrit congratulating each other on the Brown decision," Associated Press, 17 May 1954. Courtesy of Library of Congress

What was the landmark decision in the case of Brown v. Board of Education?

Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, the U.S. Supreme Court declared state laws establishing separate public schools for students of different races to be unconstitutional.

How many families were involved in the Topeka class action lawsuit?

n 1950, the Topeka Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) organized another case, this time a class action suit comprised of 13 families.

When did segregation begin in Kansas?

Segregation in Schools. Elementary schools in Kansas had been segregated since 1879 by a state law allowing cities with populations of 15,000 or more to establish separate schools for black children and white children. African American parents in Kansas began filing court challenges as early as 1881.

When did the NAACP appeal to the Supreme Court?

The plaintiffs appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1952 and were joined by four similar NAACP-sponsored cases from Delaware, South Carolina, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.

Which amendment prohibited the operation of separate public schools based on race?

The Justices decided to rehear the case in the fall with special attention paid to whether the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause prohibited the operation of separate public schools based on race.

When did black parents start filing court challenges in Kansas?

African American parents in Kansas began filing court challenges as early as 1881. By 1950, 11 court challenges to segregated schools had reached the Kansas State Supreme Court. None of the cases successfully overturned the state law.

When did Warren support Mexican students?

Warren had supported the integration of Mexican-American students in California school systems in 1947, after Mendez v. Westminster and when Brown v. Board of Education was reheard, Warren was able to bring the Justices to a unanimous decision. On May 14, 1954, Chief Justice Warren delivered the opinion of the Court, stating, "We conclude that, ...

Thurgood Marshall

Thurgood Marshall led a life in the pursuit of equality, and was on a path destined to lead him to the U.S. Supreme Court. Read More...

Louis Redding

The first African American admitted to the Delaware bar, Louis Redding was part of the NAACP legal team that challenged school segregation.

Jack Greenberg

As the first white attorney for the NAACP, Jack Greenberg helped to argue Brown v. Board of Education at the U.S. Supreme Court level.

Thurgood Marshall

Thurgood Marshall led a life in the pursuit of equality, and was on a path destined to lead him to the U.S. Supreme Court. Read More...

George E.C. Hayes

George E.C. Hayes was responsible for starting the oral argument of Bolling v. Sharpe, the case which originated in the District of Columbia

Charles Hamilton Houston

Houston developed a "Top-Down" integration strategy, and became known as "The Man Who Killed Jim Crow" for his desegregation work.

James Nabrit, Jr

Nabrit took over Charles Hamilton Houston's work on the Bolling v. Sharpe case which went to the U.S. Supreme Court alongside four others.

What was the Brown v Board of Education case?

Brown v. Board of Education was a landmark case in the United States Supreme Court in which the doctrine of “separate but equal,” specifically in regard to public education, was deemed unconstitutional. The Court decided unanimously (9-0) for the plaintiffs, overturning the Plessy v Ferguson (1896) decision in the context of education. The decision, based upon the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, deemed separate educational facilities to be “inherently unequal”. Not only was this case a major victory for the Civil Rights Movement, it also paved the way for future supreme court rulings which declared all forms of segregation to be unconstitutional.

What was the result of Brown v. Board?

The most significant result of Brown v. Board was that the decision overturned the doctrine of separate but equal with regards to education , which had at the time been the law of the land since the Plessy v. Ferguson decision in 1896. The opinion of the court, written by Chief Justice Warren stated very plainly the court’s position: “We conclude that, in the field of public education, the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place.” Brown v. Board lead to the rejection of the “Separate but Equal” doctrine in areas outside of education; it set a precedent against separate but equal. The most direct instance of this can in the Bolling v. Sharpe (1954) decision, rendered the same day as the Brown decision, in which the court decided there is an implied extension of the Equal Protection Clause to the federal government.

What did the Supreme Court rule about the closing of schools in Prince Edward County?

The Supreme Court rules 7-2 that the closing of all public schools in Prince Edward County in 1958 violated the 14th Amendment rights of black students in the county , similar to the original Brown v. Board case.

What is the Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board?

Supreme Court rules that states are bound by the Supreme Courts Decisions in both Brown v. Board cases, regardless of whether or not they agree with the decisions. The case stemmed from the Little Rock Nine in Arkansas when the school board attempted to suspend integration, and the state legislature attempted to amend the state constitution to prohibit integration.

What was the rule of the Chancellor in the case of the Negro schools?

Ruled that the schools in question should be immediately desegregated. “The Chancellor gave judgment for the plaintiffs and ordered their immediate admission to schools previously attended only by white children, on the ground that the Negro schools were inferior with respect to teacher training, pupil-teacher ratio, extracurricular activities, physical plant, and time and distance involved in travel.”

What is the Supreme Court ruling on segregated schools?

The Supreme Court makes rulings over this period essentially holding in most cases, black schools shoul;d be tangibly equalized with white schools. While these were victories for the desegregation movement, schools were not mandated to integrate.

Why was the Supreme Court ruling 5-4?

The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that school districts that allowed students to apply to any school within the district in an attempt to meet racial balance in schools was unconstitutional. Essentially, the practice lead to students being denied the school of their choice based on their race, in order to acheive certain racial ratios.

Why did Linda Brown not go to school?

There were 3 main reasons the Brown v the Board of Education of Topeka happened: ❖ In 1951, Linda Brown was not allowed to go to the local all-white summer school because she was black. ❖ Her father, Oliver Brown, with the support of the NAACP, brought a case called Brown v Topeka to the local courts in June 1951.

What was the NAACP's argument in Plessy v Ferguson?

The NAACP's argument was that even if equal educational provision and facilities were made available, the Plessy v Ferguson decision from 1896 of 'separate but equal' made black children feel inferior and this therefore broke the 14th Amendment.

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