Jackson Center To Commemorate Brown v. Board Of Education II
The 50th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education II, in which the court issued a unanimous opinion ordering that the states end segregation of public schools with ‘‘all deliberate speed,‘‘ will be marked May 31.
The Robert H. Jackson Center is planning a six-event series to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Brown v. Board II, according to Gregory L. Peterson, president.
Peterson said the event series will look beyond the groundbreaking and much celebrated 1954 U.S. Supreme Court Case — Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kan., et al, which challenged the ‘‘separate but equal’’ precedent set by Plessy v. Ferguson, a decision that held for 60 years.
‘‘This year’s event series will gather an extraordinary group of people with deep personal insights into our nation’s struggle for educational equality for all children, including the U.S. Supreme Court’s challenge in charting a legal course for desegregation and the significance of the phrase ‘with all deliberate speed’ as the essence of the 1955 Brown v. Board II decision,’’ Peterson said.
Peterson explained that on May 17, 1954, Chief Justice Earl Warren issued the unanimous decision for the case of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kan. Writing for the court, Chief Justice Earl Warren declared: ‘‘We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.’’
‘‘It is significant to note that the Supreme Court also chose not to decide, at that time, the appropriate remedy, rather the court ordered all the parties to re-argue the case,’’ Peterson said.
On May 31, 1955, just a little more than one year after Brown, the Supreme Court ordered its unanimous opinion that the states end segregation of public schools with ‘‘all deliberate speed.’’ This opinion is commonly know as Brown II.
The court was afraid that if it set a specific deadline for desegregation, it would face outright defiance of its order. The vagueness over how to enforce the ruling gave segregationists the opportunity to organize resistance.
Although many people welcomed the Brown decision, a large number considered it an assault on their way of life. Segregationists played on the fears and prejudices of their communities and launched a militant campaign of defiance and resistance.
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education II, the Jackson Center will carry out the following series of events:
• Sunday, 7 p.m. — The movie Separate But Equal (Part I) will be shown at the Jackson Center, hosted by the Hon. Joseph Gerace.
• Sunday, May 2, 7 p.m. — The movie Separate But Equal (Part II ) will be shown at the Jackson Center, also hosted by Gerace.
• May 15, 7 p.m. — A documentary on Brown v. Board of Education will be shown at the Jackson Center.
• May 17, 7 p.m. — A speech by Ophelia De Laine Gona, the daughter of the Rev. Joseph De Laine Sr., who was instrumental in pushing the Clarendon County, S.C., School District toward desegregation. Ms. Gona will share her family’s lifetime commitment to civil rights at the Jackson Center.
• May 18, 10:30 a.m. — A roundtable discussion moderated by Professor John Q. Barrett, Elizabeth S. Lenna fellow, and including the following former law clerks of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1954 term: E. Barrett Prettyman Jr., Justices Jackson and Harlan; Earl Pollock, Justice Warren; Daniel Meador, Justice Black; and Gordon Davidson, Justice Reed, at Lenna Hall, Chautauqua Institution.
• May 18 — Dinner at the Athenaeum Hotel honoring all the participants with featured speaker William T. Coleman Jr., Medal of Freedom winner, close aide to Thurgood Marshall during the Brown v. Board cases, former U.S. Secretary of Transportation and the first African-American law clerk in the history of the Supreme Court (Frankfurter).
The series concludes at 10 a.m. June 22 at the Jackson Center with a presentation by Aaron Beckwith, Emmy-award winning producer of the movie Follow the North Star.
The Jackson Center was founded in 2001 to celebrate the life and works of Jamestown-area native and Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson. Jackson, in addition to taking part in the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kan., case, wrote a draft opinion, the logic of which is followed in the final opinion. In keeping with the Jackson Center’s mission, the upcoming event series commemorating the 50th anniversary of Brown v. Board II is offered as a means of encouraging further understanding and dialogue regarding the making of these landmark decisions.
Among the major sponsors for the event series are: Chautauqua Institution; Chautauqua County Industrial Development Agency; Cummins Inc.; HSBC Bank USA, N.A.; Phillips Lytle; and The Supreme Court Historical Society.
For more information on the Brown v. Board II event series, contact the Jackson Center, 483-6646, or visit the Center‘s Web Site, www.roberthjackson.org.