THURSDAY, MAY 20, 2022 MISCELLANEOUS STUFF

 THURSDAY, MAY 20, 2022 MISCELLANEOUS STUFF

I’ve been too serious this week - so let’s see if I can find other stuff to write about.

TODAY IN HISTORY - MAY 17 - A major legal case is handed down by the Supreme Court.

“May 17, 1954: In a major civil rights victory, the U.S. Supreme Court hands down an unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, ruling that racial segregation in public educational facilities is unconstitutional. The historic decision, which brought an end to federal tolerance of racial segregation, specifically dealt with Linda Brown, a young African American girl who had been denied admission to her local elementary school in Topeka, Kansas, because of the color of her skin.”

“In 1896, the Supreme Court ruled in Plessy v. Ferguson that "separate but equal" accommodations in railroad cars conformed to the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection. That ruling was used to justify segregating all public facilities, including elementary schools. However, in the case of Linda Brown, the white school she attempted to attend was far superior to her Black alternative and miles closer to her home. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) took up Linda’s cause, and in 1954 Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka reached the Supreme Court. African American lawyer (and future Supreme Court justice) Thurgood Marshall led Brown’s legal team, and on May 17, 1954, the high court handed down its decision.

“In an opinion written by Chief Justice Earl Warren, the nation’s highest court ruled that not only was the “separate but equal” doctrine unconstitutional in Linda’s case, it was unconstitutional in all cases because educational segregation stamped an inherent badge of inferiority on African American students. A year later, after hearing arguments on the implementation of their ruling, the Supreme Court published guidelines requiring public school systems to integrate “with all deliberate speed.”

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The earlier case (Plessy v. Ferguson) said education was fine with different schools - it was “equal”.  But rarely did “separate” schools equate to “equal” schools.  Communities that had white schools and black schools frequently built new school buildings for the white schools and “gave” the older school buildings to the black school students.  Books, curriculum, teachers, money (for teachers and materials) flowed to the white schools and the black schools got ‘hand-me-downs' of textbooks and materials.  

Plessy v Ferguson was the foundation for many “Jim Crow” laws.  City buses carried both white and black residents - but the blacks had to sit in the back.  Even down to drinking fountains on the streets - there were white fountains and black fountains.  A black person could get arrested for drinking city water out of a fountain labeled “for white people”.  I suppose a white person could get arrested for drinking out of a fountain labeled “for colored people” - but the police looked the other way.  If the fountains both had city water didn’t the water taste the same?  The social stigma of separateness existed in society.  There were black churches and white churches.  

I grew up in eastern Iowa where there weren't any “separate but equal” rules (or at least not official ones).  My aunt (Geri) graduated from the local high school in the early 1940s and enlisted in the WAVES (acronym of Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) which was comparable to the WAC (Women’s Army Corp).

She was assigned to the large Pensacola (Florida) Naval Base.  There she met her future husband and fell in love.

After marriage, her husband found Geri’s high school yearbook - and was appalled.  His wife had gone to school with “colored students”.  He took scissors and cut out all the images of colored students out of her yearbook.  It just wasn’t suitable for my aunt Geri to have a yearbook that included colored people as just normal students.  

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The Brown v Board of Education legal decision swept through the country.  “Separate but equal” was slowly disappearing.  A second (non-labeled) Civil War ensued.  Southern politicians (like Governor George Wallace of Alabama) rallied to support segregation.  

Colleges were integrated - loyal Crimson Tide (Alabama) fans had their first African American to play varsity football for the University of Alabama in 1971..  

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson on July 2, 1964.  It prohibited discrimination in public places, provided for the integration of schools and other public facilities, and made employment discrimination illegal. It was the most sweeping civil rights legislation since Reconstruction.

The Declaration of Independence says “All men are created equal and they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” that ALL MEN are created equal.  Can that happen?

Let’s work on LOVE WINS!!!

Karen
May 20, 2022