LEARN NC

North Carolina History Digital Textbook Project

Brown versus Board of Education: Rhetoric and realities

By Kristin Post

1.1 Lesson plan: Brown versus Board of Education

By Kristin Post

Provided by UNC Libraries / Documenting the American South

Learning outcomes

Students will:

  • read the primary text of Brown versus Board of Education and the Fourteenth Amendment
  • be able to discuss the legal and social outcomes that followed this Supreme Court ruling in the context of what they learn from oral histories
  • analyze political rhetoric
  • discuss the variety of impacts caused by a single federal court ruling
  • critically reflect upon the tendency of historical accounts to simplify, even when the issue remains complex

Teacher planning

Time required for the lesson

2 class periods

Materials/Resources

Additional materials to print and hand out to students:

Optional resources:

Technology resources

  • internet connection
  • speakers
  • computer
  • headphones (preferred)
  • CD player (in lieu of the computer, speakers, and internet connection, if you have burned your own CD)

Pre-activities

Teacher preparation

  1. Listen to the oral histories.
  2. Familiarize yourself with Brown versus Board of Education and the historic events that follow.
  3. Familiarize yourself with the biographies of Jesse Helms, Republican Senator from North Carolina, George Wallace, Democratic Governor (and Presidential candidate) from Alabama, and Ruby Bridges, a woman who integrated an elementary school in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Audio preparation

  1. If you are playing audio from a CD player, you will not require a computer or speakers. In this case, you will want to download the oral histories ahead of time and burn them onto a CD.
  2. If you are playing the oral histories from a computer and speakers in your classroom, you can play it live from the website or download the audio to your computer and play with a variety of audio players that may be preinstalled on your computer.
  3. If you are going to use the computer lab, you do not have to download the oral histories. You and your students can simply listen to the audio excerpts included in this lesson plan.
  4. Before you use the computer lab, you should ensure every student will have a computer and headphones. Also, ensure that the volume on all of the computers is not muted or too loud.

Consult UNC’s Resources for Teachers: Audio Toolkit if you wish to know more about downloading or playing audio files.

Activities

Day 1: Class discussion and individual group assignments

This is the day to introduce the Fourteenth Amendment, Brown versus Board of Education, and the historic events that were a result of this ruling. What is described below is a suggestion of what to do. However, you may consider showing a documentary, using your textbook, or integrating other resources. By the end of this day, students should be familiar with the role the federal court played in the beginning of the integration movement, and they should also be aware of some of the legal, political, and social battles that followed in its wake.

  1. Read the following excerpt from the Fourteenth Amendment:

    Section. 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

  2. Hand out the following excerpt, or read the full text of the 1954 Supreme Court Ruling, Brown versus Board of Education:

    In the first cases in this Court construing the Fourteenth Amendment, decided shortly after its adoption, the Court interpreted it as proscribing all state-imposed discriminations against the Negro race. The doctrine of “separate but equal” did not make its appearance in this Court until 1896 in the case of Plessy v. Ferguson, supra, involving not education but transportation. American courts have since labored with the doctrine for over half a century. In this Court, there have been six cases involving the “separate but equal” doctrine in the field of public education. In Cumming v. County Board of Education, 175 U.S. 528, and Gong Lum v. Rice, 275 U.S. 78, the validity of the doctrine itself was not challenged. In more recent cases, all on the graduate school level, inequality was found in that specific benefits enjoyed by white students were denied to Negro students of the same educational qualifications. Missouri ex rel. Gaines v. Canada, 305 U.S. 337; Sipuel v. Oklahoma, 332 U.S. 631; Sweatt v. Painter, 339 U.S. 629; McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents, 339 U.S. 637. In none of these cases was it necessary to reexamine the doctrine to grant relief to the Negro plaintiff. And in Sweatt v. Painter, supra, the Court expressly reserved decision on the question whether Plessy v. Ferguson should be held inapplicable to public education.

    In the instant cases, that question is directly presented. Here, unlike Sweatt v. Painter, there are findings below that the Negro and white schools involved have been equalized, or are being equalized, with respect to buildings, curricula, qualifications and salaries of teachers, and other “tangible” factors. Our decision, therefore, cannot turn on merely a comparison of these tangible factors in the Negro and white schools involved in each of the cases. We must look instead to the effect of segregation itself on public education.

  3. Discuss the answers to the questions:
    • How is the Fourteenth Amendment related to Brown versus Board of Education?
    • What is the distinction between the Plessy versus Ferguson ruling and that considered in Brown versus Board of Education?
    • Over how many years have cases regarding segregation been brought?
    • What is the central question that the ruling says must be answered?
    • What were the effects of segregation on public education?
    • What were some of the battles that followed this 1954 ruling? How long was the delay between the federal court ruling and when some states obeyed?
    • For those who protested this ruling, what were some complaints? For those who supported this ruling, what were their arguments?
  4. Tell the class: “Tomorrow, the class will be assessing the impact of Brown versus Board of Education as it was felt decades later and described in three oral histories. Two oral histories are Southern politicians known for favoring segregation, George Wallace, and Jesse Helms. The third oral history is a woman living in Charlotte whose children were part of integration in the 1970s. Her name is Harriet Love. So that the class can better understand the context of tomorrow’s discussion, they will be researching the people in these oral histories. Since Harriet Love is not someone who is easy to research, the third group will research Ruby Bridges instead. Ruby Bridges was the first African American to integrate a New Orleans elementary school in 1960. Though Ruby Bridges and Harriet Love are not necessarily alike, Ruby represents an African American woman who had to struggle against racism at an early age, and like Harriet Love, she is a mother with strong feelings about the role parents should play in education.”
  5. Divide the class into three groups, and assign each group one of the following to research: George Wallace from Alabama, Jesse Helms from North Carolina, and Ruby Bridges from Louisiana. For homework, each member of the group (or two members may pair up) will research and be ready to present on one of the following topics:
    • a short biography of the person (no more than two paragraphs)
    • at least two quotes showing support for segregation (George Wallace and Jesse Helms) or a quote indicating the struggle of integration (Ruby Bridges)
    • an important cause that this person supported, and why this was important to them (this does not have to be related to Civil Rights)
    • a short paragraph on the present-day political or economic status of the state in which this person lived

Day 2: Presentations, oral histories, and discussion

Start class with a general dialogue about integration and cover the following items:

  1. It is generally perceived as among the greatest triumphs in Civil Rights and is considered an improvement to society and education. Is there any evidence to the contrary?
  2. Discuss any stories (from parents, grandparents, or other family members and friends) students have heard about the integration. Tell stories from your life (or your family’s lives), if relevant.
  3. In 1954, given how society was organized, how people behaved, and where and how they lived, discuss the logistical concerns a school board or principal may have had in trying to integrate a previously all-white or all-black school. What considerations would be made? What would have to change? What would be the best way to enforce those changes?
  4. If you were white at the time or black at the time, do you think you would favor the idea of integration? If not, what would you fear?

Presentation and oral history: George Wallace

  1. Allow the three groups some time to get together and arrange their presentation.
  2. Invite the George Wallace group to present their research.
  3. Recap with the class what they have learned.
  4. Using your teacher’s guide, read the “Introduction: George Wallace” aloud to the class.
  5. Play the George Wallace oral history excerpt. Running time: 2 minutes 3 seconds.
  6. Using your teacher’s guide, discuss the answers to “Follow-up questions: George Wallace.”

Presentation and oral history: Jesse Helms

  1. Invite the Jesse Helms group to present their research.
  2. Recap with the class what they have learned.
  3. Using your teacher’s guide, read “Introduction: Jesse Helms” aloud to the class.
  4. Play the Jesse Helms oral history excerpt. Running time: 59 seconds.
  5. Using your teacher’s guide, discuss the answers to “Follow-up questions: Jesse Helms.”

Presentation and oral history: Harriet Love

  1. Invite the Ruby Bridges group to present their research.
  2. Recap with the class what they have learned.
  3. Using your teacher’s guide, read the “Introduction: Harriet Love” aloud to the class.
  4. Play the Harriet Love oral history excerpt. Running time: 4 minutes 52 seconds.
  5. Using your teacher’s guide, discuss the answers to “Follow-up questions: Harriet Love.”

Assessment

Students should use this prompt to write an essay. Students could also meet in small discussion groups to address the prompt.

“At the end of her oral history, Harriet Love states, “It takes planning when you have children. You’ve got to plan for their future as well as your own.” The process of desegregation was long, drawn out, and violent. There were many drawbacks and many rewards. Was planning important? Should it have been? If so, what part of government should have taken the lead in the planning, and what kinds of considerations should they have made? How long should the integration process have taken? What would the benefits have been if there had been better planning? If the government did an ideal job in planning for this complex social transition, explain why.”

Alternative assessment

Students will interview a grandparent or parent about what they know about integration. Students will ask specific questions about how it may have affected their lives, and what the political and social climate was at the time. Students will write up a short history of the effects of desegregation on their families.