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Lesson Plan

You’re the Justice! A Landmark Case in Supreme Court History

Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site

Grade Level:

High School: Ninth Grade through Twelfth Grade

Subject:

Social Studies

Lesson Duration:

90 Minutes

State Standards:

Arkansas History Frameworks (grades 9-12): TCC1.2, TCC1.3, TCC2.3, PPE1.1, PDC1.1, PAG4.1, PAG4.2, PAG4.3, PAG4.4, SSPS1.1, SSPS1.2, SSPS1.3, SSPS1.4, SSPS1.5, SSPS1.6.

Additional Standards:

U.S. Social Studies Frameworks (grades 9-12): TCC1.2, TCC1.3, TCC1.4, TCC2.1, TCC2.2, TCC2.4, PPE1.1, PPE1.1, PPE2.7, PDC1.1, PAG1.1, PAG1.2, PAG1.3, PAG1.4, PAG1.5, PAG1.6, PAG2.1, PAG2.2, PAG2.3, SSPS1.1, SSPS1.2, SSPS1.3, SSPS1.4, SSPS2.1, SSPS2.2, SSP

Thinking Skills:

Understanding: Understand the main idea of material heard, viewed, or read. Interpret or summarize the ideas in own words. Applying: Apply an abstract idea in a concrete situation to solve a problem or relate it to a prior experience. Analyzing: Break down a concept or idea into parts and show the relationships among the parts. Evaluating: Make informed judgements about the value of ideas or materials. Use standards and criteria to support opinions and views.

Essential Question

What was the legal precedent behind Plessy v. Ferguson and how did Brown V. Board of Education lead to the crisis at Central High School in 1957?

Objective

Examine the 14th Amendment and cases related to segregation to understand the legal process behind the collective Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954 and its impact on Central High School in 1957.

Background

• “Brown was the beginning...” in understanding the nature and expectations of how the Supreme Court interpreted the Constitution. -- Alexander M. Bickel
  • In 1954, the United States Supreme Court issued a decision that declared “separate education facilities [were] inherently unequal” and violated the 14th Amendment guarantee of “equal protection of the laws” for all citizens. It was a reversal of the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson decision, which established the doctrine of “separate but equal.”
  • As early as 1881, African American parents in Kansas challenged the segregated school system. As a result, there were at least 11 school integration cases in Kansas prior to 1954. Each of these cases reached the Kansas Supreme Court. In 1950, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) stepped up efforts to change the segregated educational system of Topeka, Kansas. From 1948 to 1950, the NAACP attempted to persuade the Board of Education to integrate their schools but were met with resistance.After several African American children were denied enrollment in the all-white schools, the NAACP filed a class action lawsuit against the Board of Education of Topeka Public Schools. Thirteen parents joined the fight and lent their names to the lawsuit. In 1951, the lawsuit was officially filed as Oliver L. Brown et al. v. Board of Education of Topeka. Oliver Brown served as the lead plaintiff because he was listed first on the lawsuit.
  • The Brown case was only geared towards elementary schools because junior and senior high classrooms in Topeka were integrated although extracurricular activities remained segregated. The first ruling came in favor of the Topeka Board of Education. As a result, the NAACP filed an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. When it reached the high court, it was combined with similar lawsuits, all styled as Oliver L. Brown et. al. v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, et. al.
  • The Brown lawsuit was not only about Topeka, but also included Delaware (2), the District of Columbia, South Carolina, and Virginia. The court consolidated the cases under one name, although one (Bolling v. Sharpe) required a separate opinion because it was filed in Washington, D.C. The justices felt that it was better to have representative cases from different parts of the country.
  • In 1896, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that segregation did not conflict with the 14th Amendment (Plessy v. Ferguson). However, by the 1950s, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson case and ruled that segregation in public education was an injustice.
  • In the Brown decision, the NAACP called for immediate desegregation of schools (or at least desegregation with firm deadlines). States involved in desegregation cases, including Arkansas, deemed this time- table unworkable. The U.S. Supreme Court, fearing hostility and violence, felt that using a timetable would be more suitable and less likely to cause confrontation. After a second round of arguments in 1955 (Brown II), the justices declared that desegregation had to be done with “all deliberate speed.”

Preparation

• Writing instrument for each student
• Paper

 

• SOURCES OF INFORMATION AND MATERIAL ABOUT HOW TO TEACH THE LAW USING SUPREME COURT CASES
  • Information and materials on Supreme Court cases can be obtained from the organizations listed below:
    • American Bar Association; Special Committee on Youth Education for Citizenship, 541 N. Fairbanks Avenue, Chicago, IL 60611-3314, [phone].
    • Center for Civic Education (CCE), 5146 Douglas Fir Road, Calabasas, CA 91302, [phone].
    • Center for Research and Development in Law- Related Education (CRADLE), Wake Forest University, School of Law; Box 7206, Reynolda Station, Winston-Salem, NC 27109, [phone].
    • Constitutional Rights Foundation (CRF), 601 S. Kingsley Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90005, [phone].
    • Chicago Office of the CRF, Suite 1700, 407 South Dearborn, Chicago, IL 60605, [phone].
    • National Institute for Citizenship Education in the Law (NICEL), 711 G Street, SE, Washington, DC 20003, [phone].
    • Phi Alpha Delta Public Service Center (PAD), 7315 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite 325E, Bethesda, MD 20814, [phone].

Materials

Although Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka was the decision instrumental in mandating the desegregation of public schools in the United States, several lawsuits involving desegregation were filed prior to 1954.

Download The Cases of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka

Cooper v. Aaron, 358 U.S. 1 (1958), was a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, which denied the Arkansas School Board the right to delay desegregation for 30 months.

Download The Little Rock Crisis and the U.S. Supreme Court - Cooper v. Aaron (1957)

The role and functions of the U.S. Supreme Court

Download The United States Supreme Court

Earl Warren presided over the Supreme Court during a period of sweeping changes in U.S. constitutional law, especially in the areas of race relations, criminal procedure, and legislative apportionment.

Download Chief Justice Earl Warren

Thurgood Marshall was an American lawyer and civil rights activist who served as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from October 1967 until October 1991. Marshall was the Court's first African-American justice.

Download The Lawyer - Thurgood Marshall (1908-1993)

Procedure

1. Read the background information and use the provided lesson materials to teach this lesson.
2. Read about the cases in Brown v. Board.
3. Read about the United States Supreme Court. 
4. Read The Little Rock Crisis and the U.S. Supreme Court Cooper v. Aaron (1957).
5. Read about Chief Justice Earl Warren.
6. Read about Thurgood Marshall.
7. Choose from Selected Teacher Activities.

Vocabulary

Vocabulary

Appellate: Having the power to hear court appeals and review court decisions.

Cooper v. Aaron: 1958 Supreme Court decision that invalidated racial segregation in the public schools and discarded the separate but equal doctrine laid forth in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896). After the 1957 crisis at Little Rock Central High School, the Little Rock School District asked for and received from the federal district court a two-and- a-half year delay in implementing desegregation. The NAACP appealed the case to the Supreme Court. Aaron was the first legal test of the enforcement of the Brown decision. In an unprecedented move, all nine Supreme Court justices signed the opinion, overturning the delay and ordering the school districts to proceed with desegregation.

Associate Justice: There are nine justices on the U.S. Supreme Court - one chief justice and eight associate justices. They are appointed by the president and must be confirmed by a majority vote in the Senate. The president must also be careful to choose a nominee with strong chances for Senate confirmation, otherwise the administration may lose prestige in a bruising confirmation battle with the Senate. Presidents often try to secure Senate support by balancing the Court members’ geographic and regional backgrounds. Many 20th century presidents have also tried to balance the Court’s religious, racial, ethnic, and gender makeup.

Oliver L. Brown et. al. v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas et. al.: Landmark court case of 1954 in which the Supreme Court of the United States unanimously declared that it was unconstitutional to create separate schools for children on the basis of race. The Brown ruling ranks as one of the most important Supreme Court decisions of the 20th century. At the time of the decision, 17 southern states and the District of Columbia required that all public schools be racially segregated. A few northern and western states, including Kansas, left the issue of segregation up to individual school districts with 15,000 or more students.

Chief Justice: In the United States judicial system, title of the presiding judge of the Supreme Court of the United States and of the presiding justices of the highest tribunals in most of the states. The chief justice of the United States is the highest judicial officer of the nation and is appointed for life by the president with the approval of the Senate.The chief justice orders the business of the Supreme Court and administers the oath of office to the president and vice president upon their inaugurations. According to Article 1, Section 3, of the Constitution of the United States, the chief justice is also empowered to preside over the Senate in the event that it sits as a court to impeach the president. 

Civil Rights Act of 1964: Landmark legislative act that improves the quality of life for African-Americans and other minority groups. Although civil rights had a long history as a political and legislative issue, the 1960s marked a period of intense activity by the federal government to protect minority rights. The Act did not resolve all problems of discrimination, but it opened the door for further progress by lessening racial restrictions on the use of public facilities, provided more job opportunities, strengthened voting laws, and limited federal funding of discriminatory aid programs.

Fourteenth Amendment: An amendment to the Constitution of the United States adopted in 1868; extends the guarantees of the Bill of Rights to the states, as well as to the federal government.

Judicial Review: Review by a court of law of actions of a government official or entity of some other legally appointed person or body or the review by an appellate court of the decision of a trial court.

Judiciary Act: The First Congress provided the detailed organization of a federal judiciary system in 1789 in the Judiciary Act. Acting on its constitutional authority, Congress instituted a three-tiered judiciary. The Supreme Court consisted of a chief justice and five associate justices. In each state and in Kentucky and Maine (then parts of other states), a federal judge presided over a U.S. district court, which heard admiralty and maritime cases, and some other minor cases. The middle-tier of the judiciary consisted of the U.S. circuit courts, which served as the principal trial courts in the federal system and exercised limited appellate jurisdiction. Two Supreme Court justices and the local district judge presided in the circuit courts.Under the practice known as “circuit riding,” each justice was assigned to one of three geographical circuits and traveled to the designated meeting places within the districts of that circuit.

Marbury v. Madison: Landmark court case of 1803 in which the Supreme Court of the United States established its authority to review and invalidate government actions that conflict with the U.S Constitution.

Thurgood Marshall (1908-1993): American jurist who served as the first African American associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1967 to 1991. As a lawyer for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Marshall argued 32 cases before the Supreme Court, winning 29 of them, including Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954), which brought an end to legal segregation in public schools.National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP): Organization founded in 1909 in New York City for the purpose of improving the conditions under which African Americans lived at the time. Although these conditions have improved enormously, many differences still exist in the rights of U.S. citizens solely because of race or ethnic origin. The NAACP continues to seek a single class of citizenship for every American.

Original Jurisdiction: If parties are in dispute and cannot settle the matter (e.g.: two states), then the U.S. Supreme Court has authority under the U.S. Constitution to take over deciding the matter.

Petitioner: One who presents a petition.

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896): Supreme Court decision that set the precedent that “separate” facilities for African Americans and whites were constitutional as long as they were considered equal. The “separate but equal” doctrine was quickly extended to cover many areas of public life, such as restaurants, theaters, restrooms, and public schools. Not until 1954, in the Brown decision, was the “separate but equal” doctrine struck down.

Respondent: Being a defendant.

Title VI: Enacted as part of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title VI prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, and national origin in programs and activities receiving federal financial assistance. If a recipient of federal assistance is found to have discriminated and voluntary compliance cannot be achieved, the federal agency providing the assistance should either initiate fund termination proceedings or refer the matter to the Department of Justice for appropriate legal action. 

United States Supreme Court: Highest court in the United States and the chief authority in the judicial branch, one of the three branches of the United States federal government. The Supreme Court hears appeals from decisions of lower federal courts and state supreme courts, and it resolves issues of constitutional and federal law. It stands as the ultimate authority in constitutional interpretation, and its decisions can be changed only by a constitutional amendment.

Earl Warren (1891 -1974): American jurist who served as chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1953 to 1969 and who handed down the Brown decision in 1954.

Assessment Materials

Suggested Teacher Activities

1. Questions to Consider (BT: Knowledge, Comprehension, Application, Analysis, Synthesis, Evaluation):Discuss and comprehend with your students.

• Analyze what rights the Fourteenth Amendment gives citizens.
• Identify problems African-Americans encountered in Topeka and other cities involved in the Brown decision that eventually resulted in this case. What about in Little Rock?
• What precedent did the Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) ruling establish? How was that precedent related to Brown? How did the case of Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) affect segregation?
• Illustrate what it meant to have segregated schools.
• Recognize that it is important in Brown v. Board to determine what “equal” means. Analyze what you think equality meant to the Brown family and the other parents. Conclude what you think equality meant to the Board of Education of Topeka.

2. The Court (BT: Knowledge, Comprehension, Application, Analysis, Synthesis, Evaluation) Have a working knowledge of the United States Supreme Court by conducting the following:

• Summarize the history and role of the United States Supreme Court in this country and within the three branches of government) by using information and interpretation of facts.
• * Teach the Brown v. Board, Brown II, and Cooper v. Aaron Supreme Court cases in historical context so that the constitutional issue is cast within the social forces that generated it.

 

3. If You Were A Supreme Court Justice... (BT: Knowledge, Comprehension, Application, Analysis, Synthesis, Evaluation)*:

• Read the excerpts, discuss with class as if they were justices, and analyze the U.S. Supreme Court decision. How did the class decisions compare with the true decisions?
• The Brown v. Board of Education decision did not dictate how schools should desegregate. Many systems did not want to desegregate and experimented with ways to get around theCourt decision in Brown to take advantage of the vague mandate. Many lawsuits were filed by minority students, the NAACP, and the Justice Department to force school districts to comply with the Brown decision. The law, however, was not always clear.
• As groups or as individuals, read the following descriptions of school segregation cases that came before the Supreme Court of the United States after the Brown v. Board of Education decision. Taking into consideration what you know about the Brown case and the spirit in which it was written, how would you decide each one? After you discuss each case, read how the actual Supreme Court of the United States decided the case.
• Key Excerpts from the Majority Opinion, Brown II (1956) The decision was unanimous. Chief Justice Earl Warren delivered the opinion of the Court
  • “These cases [all four cases of Brown] were decided on May 17, 1954. The opinions of that date, declaring the fundamental principle that racial discrimination in public education is unconstitutional, are incorporated herein by reference. All provisions of federal, state, or local law requiring or permitting such discrimination must yield to this principle. There remains for consideration the manner in which relief is to be accorded. . . Full implementation of these constitutional principles may require solution of varied local school problems. School authorities have the primary responsibility for elucidating, assessing, and solving these problems; courts will have to consider whether the action of school authorities constitutes good faith implementation of the governing constitutional principles. . . .
  • While giving weight to . . . public and private considerations, the courts will require that the defendants make a prompt and reasonable start toward full compliance with our May 17, 1954, ruling. Once such a start has been made, the courts may find that additional time is necessary to carry out the ruling in an effective manner. The burden rests upon the defendants to establish that such time is necessary in the public interest and is consistent with good faith compliance at the earliest practicable date. To that end, the courts may consider problems related to administration, arising from the physical condition of the school plant, the school transportation system, personnel, revision of school districts and attendance areas into compact units to achieve a system of determining admission to the public schools on a nonracial basis, and revision of local laws and regulations which may be necessary in solving the foregoing problems. . . .
  • [T]he cases are remanded to the District Courts to take such proceedings and enter such orders and decrees consistent with this opinion as are necessary and proper to admit to public schools on a racially nondiscriminatory basis with all deliberate speed the parties to these cases.”
  • Questions to Consider: *
    • On the basis of this decision, explain what segregated school districts were required to do to comply with the 14th Amendment.
    • Assess the problems that the Court foresees with the desegregation process.
    • Do you conclude from this ruling that school districts must desegregate immediately? Why or why not?
  • Milliken v. Bradley (Detroit, MI, 1974) This case concerned the segregation practices of the Detroit school district, which was the fifth largest in the nation in 1970. Several black students and the NAACP filed the suit against the Detroit school district alleging past and present discrimination in the Detroit system, particularly in the drawing of school district and attendance zone boundaries. Lower courts found that there was discrimination and ordered the system to desegregate. Because of white flight to the suburbs, the Detroit school district was largely black, making it difficult to truly desegregate. A plan was devised to include surrounding majority white school districts in the desegregation plan, even though those districts had not engaged in any illegal segregation. This was believed necessary because without their participation, there could not be a racial balance in Detroit’s schools. If you were a Supreme Court justice, would you approve the plan to desegregate multiple school districts even though only one school district had been found to have illegally discriminated?
    • Milliken v. Bradley Court Decision (1974) In this decision, the Supreme Court blocked efforts for interdistrict, city-suburban desegregation remedies as a means to integrate racially isolated city schools. The Court prohibited such remedies unless plaintiffs could demonstrate that the suburbs or the state took actions that contributed to segregation in the city. Because proving suburban and state liability is often difficult, Milliken effectively shut off the option of drawing from heavily white suburbs in order to integrate city districts with very large minority populations.
  • Green v. County School Board of New Kent County, VA (1968) States and counties adopted many different plans to desegregate their schools. In 1965, the New Kent County school board adopted a “freedom- of- choice plan,” which essentially allowed students in the rural, residentially integrated district to choose which of the two schools they wished to attend- the formerly all-black Watkins School or the formerly all-white New Kent School. After three years of the new plan, no whites had elected to attend Watkins and only 115 blacks attended New Kent. The black school children in this case contended that the “freedom-of-choice plan” in practice operated to perpetuate the racially dual (segregated) school system. It placed the burden of desegregation on the black children’s shoulders. If you were a Supreme Court justice, would you rule this “freedom-of-choice plan” constitutional?
    • Green v. County School Board of New Kent County, VA Court Decision (1968): In Green, the Supreme Court ruled that schools must dismantle segregated dual (or segregated) systems “root and branch” and that desegregation must be achieved with respect to facilities, staff, faculty, extracurricular activities, and transportation. Subsequently, courts used these “Green factors” as a guide in crafting desegregation plans. More importantly, however, the factors have become a standard by which to determine whether school districts have achieved “unitary status,” or fully integrated schools.
  • Swann v. Charlotte - Mecklenberg Board of Education, NC (1971) The school district in question was a part-urban, part-rural district covering 550 square miles and serving 84,000 pupils in 101 schools. The school population was 29 percent black and those pupils were concentrated in one quadrant of Charlotte. Even after the Brown v. Board of Education decision, more than half of the black students attended schools without any white students or teachers. After the Green decision, the federal district court adopted a plan to scatter the highly concentrated AfricanAmerican student population by transporting students. The plan would involve 13,000 students and require 100 new buses at a cost of millions of dollars. If you were a Supreme Court justice, would you order the desegregation of this school district through a busing system to disperse students?
    • Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenberg Board of Education, NC Court Decision (1971): This decision struck down “racially neutral” student assignment plans that produced segregation by relying on existing residential patterns in the South. The Court in Swann ruled that desegregation must be achieved in each of a district’s schools to the greatest possible extent and approved busing as a means to do so.
  • Keyes v. School District No. 1, Denver, CO (1973) This was one of the first cases dealing with school segregation outside of the South. In this case, the lower courts found that the Denver School District deliberately engaged in discrimination in the Park Hill section of the district by building schools in certain areas, gerrymandering student attendance zones, and by the excessive use of mobile classroom units, among other things. The petitioners in the case not only wanted the Park Hill section of the city to be desegregated, but wanted the courts to order desegregation of all segregated schools in the city of Denver, particularly the heavily segregated schools in the core city area, even though there was no evidence of a deliberate attempt to segregate students in all-black schools there. If you were a Supreme Court justice, would you order the entire district desegregated, or just the Park Hill area?
    • Keyes v. School District No. 1 Denver, CO Court Decision (1973) This was the first ruling on school segregation in the North and West, where there were no explicit statutes requiring segregation in the past. Under Keys, school districts were responsible for policies that resulted in racial segregation in the school system, including constructing schools in racially isolated neighborhoods and gerrymandering attendance zones. Once intentional segregation was found on the part of the school board in a portion of the district, the whole district was presumed to be illegally segregated. The case also recognized Latino’s right to desegregation, as well as that of African-American students.

4) Using the Media Coverage to Teach Landmark Cases (BT: Comprehension, Application, Analysis, Synthesis, Evaluation)

Most Americans learn about the Supreme Court from the media. However, only a handful of reporters have a full-time beat at the Court. Invite a print media reporter to the classroom to discuss how journalists view the Supreme Court. Conduct the following exercise by using a Supreme Court decision in teaching strategy number 3 (pages 14-15). Remember: The Supreme Court of the U.S. is the highest court in the land and the court of last resort. A decision by the Supreme Court is the law of the land. The Court, composed of a panel of justices, is asked to rule on a lower court’s decision. There is no trial, no witnesses are called, and the basic facts in a case are not disputed.

For this activity, you will be preparing and writing news reports.

Your job is to:

• Listen to the preparation of the petitioners and respondents. Take notes on the most compelling statements or arguments (do not disturb the discussion of the group as you move through the groups - you are just observing).
• Write the lead paragraph for the daily news in your hometown. The first sentence could include: “Today, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the case of...”
• Post the stories through a newspaper format, posters, etc.

Additional Resources

Internet Resources for the U.S. Supreme Court and Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka

• Brown v. Board National Historic Site - nps.gov/brvb
• www.Brown v. Board.org
• Landmark Decisions of the Supreme Court - landmarkcases.org
• National Park Service Civil Rights Landmarks - We Shall Overcome - Travel Places of the Civil Rights Movement (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)
• U.S. Supreme Court - supremecourtus.gov
• U.S. Supreme Court Historical Society - supremecourthistory.org

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