Brown v. Board of Education of 1954 (NAACP Grassroot Organization)

By Geta E. Mulbah

  • The Dred Scott Decision

    The Supreme Court denied citizenship to Black people, enslaved or free, setting the stage for their treatment as second class citizens.

  • Black Codes

    Segregation Begins - Public schools were segregated, and Black people were barred from serving on juries, and limiting their right to testify against white men.

  • Slaughterhouse Cases

    This was when Pro-segregation states justified their policies and claim that segregation in their public school systems was a states' rights issue.

  • Jim Crow

    The Jim Crow laws were passed in the southern states on race, and imposed racial discrimination and segregation against black people and white people in public places such as schools, transportation, restrooms, and restaurants.

  • Plessy v. Ferguson

    The Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation under the “separate but equal” doctrine. Plessy v. Ferguson established the “separate but equal” doctrine that would become the constitutional basis for segregation.

  • National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Founded

    The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) became the primary grassroot organization that had a legal attack on segregation, eventually trying the Brown v. Board of Education case. Their mission was to eliminate lynching, and to fight racial and social injustice, primarily through legal action.

  • The NAACP begins challenging segregation in graduate and secondary schools.

    The NAACP developed a legal strategy that would eventually lead to victory over segregation in the nation’s schools through the Brown v. Board case.

  • Thurgood Marshall Named Special Counsel for NAACP

    Thurgood Marshall would eventually be lead counsel in the Brown v. Board of Education case.

  • The NAACP board of directors formally endorsed Thurgood Marshall's view on segregation strategy.

    The NAACP defense team attacked the "equal" standard so that the "separate" standard would, in turn, become vulnerable.

  • Briggs v. Elliott

    Briggs v. Elliott became one of the cases consolidated by the Supreme Court into Brown v. Board of Education. Thurgood Marshall and NAACP officials met with Black residents of Clarendon County, SC. They decided that the NAACP would launch a test case against segregation in public schools if at least 20 plaintiffs could be found.

  • Brown v. Board of Education filed

    On February 28, Brown v. Board of Education was filed in Federal district court, in Kansas.

  • Brown v. Board of Education to Trial

    A three-judge panel at the U.S. District Court unanimously held in the Brown v. Board of Education case that "no willful, intentional or substantial discrimination" will exist in Topeka’s schools.

  • Bundling of Brown v. Board Cases

    The Supreme Court agreed to hear all five of the school desegregation cases collectively. This grouping was significant because it showed school segregation as a national issue, not just a southern one.

  • Supreme Court Rulings

    The Court overturned Plessy v. Ferguson, and declared that racial segregation in public schools violated the Equal Protection clause of the 14th Amendment and was, therefore, unconstitutional.