Benchmark+8


 * Benchmark Name:** Oliver L. Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka


 * Basic Summary of Benchmark:** This 1954 landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court overturned previous Court decisions that allowed segregated schools when it decided that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal" and violated the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause.


 * Key Manifestations:** In Topeka, elementary schools were changed from segregated schools to neighborhood schools, where children were able to attend the school closest to their home. There was very little resistance to desegregation in Topeka. Other cities and states did not accept the terms of the Supreme Court's decision as readily. Virginia Senator Harry F. Boyd, Sr. organized the Massive Resistance movement, preferring to close schools rather than desegregate. Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus used his state's National Guard to keep black students from entering Little Rock High School. Florida's legislature attempted to pass a resolution declaring the Court's decision "null and void"; however, in the interest of tourism and public image, Governor Leroy Collins refused to sign it.


 * Key Personnel:** Defendant Oliver Brown et al; Chief Justice Earl Warren; Associate Justices Hugo Black, Stanley Forman Reed, Felix Frankfurter, William O. Douglas, Robert H. Jackson, Harold Hitz Burton, Tom C. Clark, Sherman Minton


 * Why/How a Benchmark?** The Brown vs. Board of Education case is a benchmark because it reversed precedent set in the late 1800's, which had "specifically validated the segregation of public schools." While this ruling did not result in the immediate desegregation of the nation's schools, or mandate desegregation of privately owned public accommodations, it was a major step forward for the Civil Rights Movement. The Supreme Court showed that it was willing to use it's judiciary powers in favor of desegregation.


 * Links: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Brown_v._Board_of_Education&printable=yes**