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[Pages S2791-S2792]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS
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SENATE RESOLUTION 201--HONORING THE 65TH ANNIVERSARY ON MAY 17, 2019,
OF THE LANDMARK DECISION OF THE SUPREME COURT IN BROWN V. BOARD OF
EDUCATION, 347 U.S. 483 (1954)
Mr. ROBERTS (for himself and Mr. Moran) submitted the following
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary:
S. Res. 201
Whereas in 1950, 9-year-old Linda Brown, the daughter of
Oliver L. Brown, was denied entry into the all-white Sumner
Elementary School in Topeka, Kansas, and forced to attend the
all-black Monroe Elementary School in Topeka, Kansas;
Whereas on February 28, 1951, the complaint in Brown v.
Board of Education was filed with the United States District
Court for the District of Kansas, with Oliver L. Brown as the
lead plaintiff;
Whereas the plaintiffs in Brown v. Board of Education
appealed the ruling of the district court to the Supreme
Court;
Whereas, at the Supreme Court, the case of Brown v. Board
of Education was combined with other cases from South
Carolina, Delaware, Virginia, and the District of Columbia
regarding segregation in public schools;
Whereas Thurgood Marshall argued the case of Brown v. Board
of Education before the Supreme Court as lead counsel for the
appellants;
Whereas on May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court delivered a
unanimous opinion holding that--
(1) separate educational facilities are inherently unequal;
and
(2) the ``separate but equal'' doctrine violated the 14th
Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which
states that no citizen may be denied equal protection under
the law;
Whereas Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954)--
[[Page S2792]]
(1) overruled the 1896 decision in Plessy v. Ferguson, 163
U.S. 537 (1896);
(2) ended discriminatory Jim Crow laws; and
(3) invalidated the ``separate but equal'' doctrine, ending
segregated classrooms in Kansas and across the United States;
Whereas, in a second opinion issued on May 31, 1955, the
Supreme Court decreed that schools should be desegregated
with all deliberate speed;
Whereas, because of the role that Linda Brown played in
ending racial segregation in the United States, Linda Brown
became a civil rights icon and continued to be a voice for
school desegregation in Topeka, Kansas;
Whereas Linda Brown passed away on March 27, 2018, at the
age of 75 in Topeka, Kansas; and
Whereas Congress established the Brown v. Board of
Education National Historic Site, which is located at Monroe
Elementary School in Topeka, Kansas, the school that Linda
Brown attended: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate recognizes and celebrates--
(1) the 65th anniversary on May 17, 2019, of the landmark
decision of the Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education,
347 U.S. 483 (1954); and
(2) the contribution the decision has made to--
(A) equal education; and
(B) equal justice under the law, which is recognized in the
Declaration of Independence and guaranteed by the
Constitution of the United States.
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