Inquiry Question

Historical Context

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Table of
Contents

Brown v. Board:
Five Communities That Changed America--
Supplementary Resources

By studying Brown v. Board: Five Communities That Changed America students learn about the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case that declared segregation in public schools unconstitutional. Those interested in learning more will find that the Internet offers a variety of interesting materials.
Touro Law Center: Supreme Court Cases
Visit the Touro Law Center website for the full text of the Supreme Court cases Plessy v. Ferguson and Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka .

University of Michigan Library
Visit the University of Michigan Library website for a list of cases associated with Brown v. Board. Also included is the full text of Griffin v. County School Board of Prince William County.
University of Virginia: Civil Rights in U.S. and Virginia History
This website stems from a course at the University of Virginia that covers segregation and the Civil Rights Movement in a local and national context. The website offers a wealth of documents, images, and sources, including images from the Davis case.

Virginia Commonwealth University: Photographs of Black and White Schools, Prince Edward County, Virginia--1961-1963
These images, by Dr. Edward H. Peeples, of the schools in Prince Edward County illustrate the differences between the resources that the county provided for its black students compared to its white students. Also visit the Virginia Black History Archives for a variety of resources related to African-American history in Virginia.
The Civil Rights Movement in Virginia
This website provides a general overview of the progression of the Civil Rights Movement in Virginia. Included are topics such as Jim Crow, the NAACP, the Brown decision, and much more.
National Park Service
Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site is a unit of the National Park System. The site is located at Monroe Elementary School in Topeka, Kansas. Monroe was the segregated school attended by the lead plaintiff's daughter, Linda Brown, when Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka was initially filed in 1951. The park's web page provides in-depth information on the case as well as related cases, and visitation and research information.
The National Register of Historic Places' on-line travel itinerary, We Shall Overcome: Historic Places of the Civil Rights Movement provides information on many places (in states across the U.S.) listed in the National Register for their association with the modern civil rights movement, including Robert Russa Moton High School, John Philip Sousa Junior High School, and Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site.
Racial Desegregation in Public Education in the U.S.
In 1998, Congress authorized the National Park Service to prepare a National Historic Landmarks Theme Study on the history of racial desegregation in public education. The purpose of the study is to identify historic places that best exemplify and illustrate the historical movement to provide for a racially nondiscriminatory education. This movement is defined and shaped by constitutional law that first authorized public school segregation and later authorized desegregation. Properties identified in this theme study are associated with events that both led to and followed these judicial decisions.

Special Resource Study of Little Rock High School
The National Park Service prepared this special resource study including a historical overview that describes the historical significance of the school and analysis determining whether or not the school warrents inclusion in the National Park System.
Civilrights.org
Civilrights.org provides a comprehensive history in its Civil Rights 101 Reference Guide, which outlines the historical events, political acts, and policy decisions relating to the Civil Rights Movement. Of particular interest is the section on School Desegregation and Equal Educational Opportunity.
Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute
The Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute is an educational partnership between Yale University and the New Haven Public Schools designed to strengthen teaching and learning in schools. The website features curricular resources produced by teachers participating in Institute seminars, including "From Plessy v. Ferguson to Brown v. Board of Education: The Supreme Court Rules on School Desegregation."
“With an Even Hand”: Brown v. Board at 50
This Library of Congress online exhibition examines the court cases that laid the ground work for the Brown v. Board decision, explores the Supreme Court argument and the public's response to it, and provides an overview of the decision's aftermath.

Brown at 50: Fulfilling the Promise
This website, sponsored by Howard University School of Law, commemorates the 50th Anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education (1954). The site features a chronology of events leading up to the case and beyond, biographical sketches of some of the figures involved in the case, as well as the full text of the Supreme Court's decision.

Robert Russa Moton Museum
The Robert Russa Moton Museum is committed to the preservation and positive interpretation of the history of civil rights in education, specifically as it relates to Prince Edward County and the role its citizens played in America's struggle to move from a segregated to an integrated society. The website includes a timeline of the school's history and links to other sites dealing with the Civil Rights Movement.

NAACP
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is the nation's oldest civil rights organization. The NAACP website offers a detailed timeline of the organization's trials and triumphs.

The Supreme Court Historical Society
The Supreme Court Historical Society, a private non-profit organization, is dedicated to the collection and preservation of the history of the Supreme Court of the United States. The Society accomplishes its mission by conducting educational programs, supporting historical research, publishing books, journals, and electronic materials, and by collecting antiques and artifacts related to the Court's history. The society's website offers extensive information on the history of the Supreme Court and its justices as well as details of how the Court functions.

Separate Is Not Equal: Brown v. Board of Education
This online exhibit, produced by the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, includes sections on the history of segregation in America, the fight to end segregation, and the legacy of the Brown ruling.

NPR: Brown v. Board of Education
The National Public Radio's website features a special section on Brown v. Board of Education. Students can listen to radio interviews with people involved in the case, including a man who attended a segregated school in Topeka, Kansas, in the 1950s, as well as one of the individuals who helped lead the student strike in Farmville, Virginia.

American Radio Works – Remembering Jim Crow
Remembering Jim Crow is an online documentary glimpse at the system of Jim Crow explored through text, pictures, audio clips and slide shows. Sponsored by American Radio Works, the web site features personal accounts offering different perspectives on how the system of Jim Crow affected individuals throughout the country. The site also offers a sampling of Jim Crow laws, with a particular section addressing those specifically related to education.

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