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Exploring the Issues

The story of Brown v. Board of Education and its legacy raises a host of issues concerning American law and society. The following features offer opportunities to explore some of these issues with students. Each feature includes at least one "conversation starter" -- a brief excerpt from an essay or legal opinion, for example, or a political cartoon or photograph--that can easily be read in a few minutes. The conversation starters are followed by focus questions you can use to begin your dialogue with the students. Feel free to pick and choose among these topics -- or design your own -- according to your interests and the time you have available with the students.

What is Equality Under the Law?

I. Declaration of Independence, 1776

We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal.

II. Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (1896)

In Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), the question before the Supreme Court was whether a Louisiana law providing for separate railway cars for whites and blacks violated the Constitution.

The object of the [Fourteenth] amendment was undoubtedly to enforce the absolute equality of the two races before the law, but in the nature of things it could not have been intended to abolish distinctions based upon color, or to enforce social, as distinguished from political, equality . . . If one race be inferior to the other socially, the Constitution of the United States cannot put them upon the same plane. -- Justice Henry Billings Brown, majority opinion

Our constitution is color-blind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens. -- Justice John Marshall Harlan, dissenting

III. Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954)

We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of "separate but equal" has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal. -- Chief Justice Earl Warren, for a unanimous Court

IV. Grutter v. Bollinger, No. 02-241 (2003)

The issue before the Court in Grutter v. Bollinger was whether the University of Michigan Law School could use race as a consideration in admitting students.

Government may treat people differently because of their race only for the most compelling reasons . . . Today we endorse [the] view that student body diversity is a compelling state interest that can justify the use of race in university admissions. -- Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, majority opinion

[R]acial classifications are per se harmful and . . . almost no amount of benefit in the eye of the beholder can justify such classifications. -- Justice Clarence Thomas, dissenting

Focus Questions

1. What does "created equal" mean to you? People are obviously very different, so what, exactly, do we mean by "equality"? Equality of opportunity? Equal treatment under law? Equal treatment for similarly situated individuals?

2. The doctrine of "separate but equal" upheld in Plessy put African Americans at a severe disadvantage. The practice upheld in Grutter gave African Americans and members of certain other minorities an advantage in the law school's admission policy.

The dissents in both cases essentially argued that the Constitution is color-blind. What does that mean? Is the Constitution color-blind? Should it be?

3. How should we deal with the possible harm to some individuals caused by preference established to advance the interests of members of historically disadvantaged groups? Does the "benign" intention of the preference make a difference?

Dialogue on Brown v. Board of Education

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