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VOICE ONE:

Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA, in VOA Special English. I'm SteveEmber.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Faith Lapidus. Today we look back at an event fifty yearsago in civil rights history. On May seventeenth, ninety-fifty-four,the Supreme Court ruled that racial separation in public schoolsviolated the Constitution.

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VOICE ONE:

The year is eighteen-ninety-six. Northern states won the CivilWar thirty years ago. Southerners lost the right to have slaves.Black people are supposed to have the same legal rights now as whitepeople under the Constitution.

Yet the Supreme Court has just declared that blacks and whitescan be educated in separate schools. The schools can be separate aslong as the quality of the education is equal.

VOICE TWO:

Now it is nineteen-fifty-four. Almost sixty years have passed.These days, there is a lot of talk about civil rights. The UnitedStates armed services are no longer separated by race. PresidentHarry Truman made that an order in nineteen-forty-eight, three yearsafter World War Two ended.

After the war, society is changing. Life is getting better, butnot for all Americans. Equal treatment is an issue not just in themilitary.

Now, the Supreme Court declaresthat schools paid for with public money must be open to students ofall races.

VOICE ONE:

The case was important in the movement to gain equal rights forAfrican Americans. At that time, it was legal to separate blacks andwhites in public places as long as the services were "separate butequal." But schools for white children were almost always better.

The situation was worst in the South. Most blacks in the Southwere not permitted to vote. They were denied jobs. They often had tolive in fear of racists.

The National Organization for the Advancement of Colored Peopleis a leading civil rights group. In the nineteen-forties, theN-double-A-C-P decided to take action to get the Supreme Court toreconsider its eighteen-ninety-six ruling.

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VOICE TWO:

In nineteen-fifty-one, theN-double-A-C-P sent its lawyers to help an African American man inthe middle of the country. Oliver Brown of Topeka, Kansas, wanted tosend his daughter, Linda, to a new school closer to their home. Butthe school said no. That school was for white children only.

So Oliver Brown and twelve other black parents in Topeka broughtlegal action. State courts ruled against them.

After that, the parents joined with black families in otherstates. Twenty other states also separated schoolchildren by race.With the help of the N-double-A-C-P, the parents appealed their caseto the Supreme Court.

VOICE ONE:

The court decided to combine five cases involving schools inKansas, South Carolina, Delaware, Virginia and Washington, D.C.These cases became known together as Brown versus the Board ofEducation.

Thurgood Marshall was the toplawyer for the civil rights organization. Later, he became the firstAfrican American justice on the Supreme Court.

The case opened in nineteen-fifty-two. Thurgood Marshall andother lawyers presented their side. They argued that separateschools denied black children the constitutional right of equalprotection under the law.

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The Supreme Court justices considered the case for almost a yearand a half. Then on May seventeenth, nineteen-fifty-four, theyannounced their decision. All nine justices called for an end toracial separation in public schools. They decided that the rule of"separate but equal" had no place in public education.

They found that separation made minority students feel of lesservalue. This affected their ability to learn. The next year, thecourt said public schools must accept children of all races asquickly as possible.

Some of the twenty-one states moved quickly to permit blackstudents and white students to attend the same schools. Some in theSouth, however, resisted. The governor of Virginia closed publicschools to thousands of students rather than desegregate.

VOICE ONE:

In nineteen-fifty-seven, the governor of Arkansas called outstate troops. Orval Faubus ordered them to bar a group of blackstudents from a school in the city of Little Rock. President DwightEisenhower sent federal troops to Little Rock to protect blackstudents.

In nineteen-sixty-four Congress passed a civil rights act. Thislaw said the government could withdraw federal aid to schools thatwere racially separated. By nineteen-seventy, schools in the Southwere described as more integrated than anywhere else in the country.Experts say this remains true. Yet it is still possible to findtraditional events like separate dances for blacks and whites.

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VOICE TWO:

After the Brown decision, many people and groups organizedprotests to demand equal rights for black people in all areas oflife. The ruling also led to hundreds of other civil rights casesalong with legislation.

The Civil Rights Act of nineteen-sixty-four banned unequaltreatment of black people in employment and public places. TheVoting Rights Act of nineteen-sixty-five banned actions by Southernstates that prevented black people from voting.

VOICE ONE:

Recently, experts have been discussing the progress made in thefifty years since the decision. Many note the improvements in thenumber of black students who graduate from high school. And they saygrowing numbers of minorities are studying science and engineeringin higher education.

However, black and Hispanic students are still far more likelythan whites or Asian Americans to leave high school early. Criticsalso note that there are areas throughout the country where racialand ethnic groups live separately. This is the result not of laws,but usually of economics and immigration patterns.

Research shows that most white, black and Hispanic students stillgo to a school where they are in the majority. Public schools getmost of their money from taxes, often based on local propertyvalues. Schools that are mostly black or Hispanic often have toomany students and not enough money. Many critics also say blacks andHispanics are too often placed in lower-level programs instead ofhonors classes.

VOICE TWO:

Legal rulings during the nineteen-nineties have led to the end ofcourt-supervised desegregation programs in many cities. Theseincluded programs like busing students across town in an effort toestablish racially mixed schools. But creating a balance became moreand more difficult. Many white families moved out of cities. Or theyput their children into private schools.

Some critics say that segregation is worse now in parts of thecountry than it was at the time of the Brown decision. But somesteps have been taken to improve the quality of schools.

In January of two-thousand-two, President Bush signed a federaleducation law that his administration proposed in Congress. The lawis called No Child Left Behind. By two-thousand-fourteen, it callsfor all children to be able to read and do math at the grade levelfor their age.

Yet many schools are struggling to meet the requirements. Somestates have been taking steps to withdraw, even if they lose federalaid.

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One way schools have tried to increase racial balance is throughaffirmative action. Such programs give special consideration tominorities who want to attend. Last year, the Supreme Court agreedto let the University of Michigan law school continue its program.

Affirmative action is under attack, though. Some call it unfair.Others say students who attend racially mixed schools are betterprepared to live in society. But some civil rights leaders say theyare more concerned with the quality of the education than the racialbalance of a school.

VOICE TWO:

The daughters of Oliver Brown are taking part in the fiftiethanniversary celebration of the ruling in their famous case. LindaBrown Thompson and her sister Cheryl Brown Henderson operate aprivate organization. It is called the Brown Foundation forEducational Equity, Excellence and Research. It awards scholarshipsand publishes information about the case.

The Brown sisters say huge gains have been made sincenineteen-fifty-four. But they say America still has a long way togo.

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VOICE ONE:

Our program was written by Cynthia Kirk and produced by CatyWeaver. I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Faith Lapidus. Join us again next week for THIS ISAMERICA, in VOA Special English.