Each year on May 17th we recognize and remember the NAACP's historic battle in the fight for equity in America's public schools through Brown v. Board of Education, Topeka, Kansas. In this famous case, the U.S. Supreme Court toppled the doctrine of "separate but equal" and mandated all states to provide every student an equal opportunity to a quality education. This year marks the 50th anniversary.

WHERE ARE WE NOW?

Although this decision was made in 1954, educators, parents, community advocates, attorneys, legislators, church folks and everybody else work continually to ensure that we received a piece of this dream. And in many families, it is a dream whose reality has not blossomed into fruition. Otherwise we wouldn't have the number of expulsions, ill-informed, under educated students who often transition into the prison system as their education of higher learning. The proverbial question remains: "DID INTEGRATION HELP OR HINDER US?"

THE HISTORY OF A STRUGGLE FOR EDUCATIONAL EQUITY

The legal battle for equity in education has an interesting chronology which transcends more than 100 years of struggle:

1849 Roberts vs City of Boston - The first documented school case. African American parents were denied from enrolling their children in certain Boston public schools.

1855 The Massachusetts State legislature bans racially segregated schools

1896 Plessy vs Ferguson - The case upheld segregated railroad car seating in Louisiana on the grounds that "equal but separate" seating did not violate the black passenger's right to equal protection under the Constitution's 14th Amendment.

1938 Missouri ex rel. Gaines v Canada - The Supreme Court ruled that the University of Missouri grant of an out of state scholarship to keep ablack student out of its law school as unconstitutional.

1940's & 1950's - The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People presented several cases designed to show that separate facilities did not meet the equality criterion.

1950 McLaurin v Oklahoma State Regents - The US Supreme Court strikes down the University of Oklahoma's rules for a black man to attend classes.

1951 NAACP coordinates filing the lawsuits challenging schooling in South Carolina, Virginia, Delaware, the District of Columbia and Kansas.

1952 The US Supreme Court hears oral arguments on all five of these cases. Requested a rehearing.

1954 Brown v Board of Education - On May 17th the historic ruling was announced and Chief Justice Warren emphasized that "public education was a RIGHT which must be made available to all on equal terms."

1964 The passage of the Civil Rights of 1964 stating that discrimination based on race, religion, gender, etc. was illegal

1988 The Brown Foundation for Educational Equity was established in Topeka Kansas.

1992 The US Congress and Brown Foundation established the Brown v Board of Education National Park while dropout and incarceration rates of black youth continually rise.

2000 The State of Florida abolishes affirmative action in public schools

2001 The NAACP Department of Education issues the Call for Action in efforts to decrease disparities that exist in America's public schools. How effective are branches in heeding to this Call?

2003 Gratz v Bollinger; Grutter v. Bollinger - the Supreme Court rules 6-3 that the University of Michigan could use "racial preferences in admissions but the school's mechanical, point-based approach was not "narrowly tailored" to achieve the goal of a diverse student body." In Grutter v Bollinger, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the law school's efforts to maintain a "critical mass" of minority students did not amount to using an illegal quota."

2004 Ward Connerly, a black California businessman, comes to Michigan (among other states) Civil Rights Review continued from page 2 to dismantle MIchigan's Constitution with his so-called "Civil Rights Petition" . This petition was designed to eliminate affirmative action in Michigan with a ballot proposal.

2004 Lansing Circuit Court Judge Paula Manderfield goes on record challenging the Michigan Board of Canvasser's legality with the petitions which imposes a temporary but shocking delay of this assault against Michigan's affirmative action laws. And the struggle continues...

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