ShmoopTube

00:03

Over the years we've seen the Supreme Court make some pretty massive [Supreme Court building]

00:05

mistakes there have been rulings that everybody regrets and maybe even a few

00:10

wardrobe malfunctions. fortunately there have also been plenty

00:15

of times where they made totally the right call [Phone call answered]

00:18

Oh Brown v Board of Education was one of those face-saving instances where the

00:23

court was able to go back and yell oops our bad to overturn one of its less than [Judge looking apologetic]

00:29

inspired rulings yep we're talking about you Plessy v Ferguson legalizing

00:34

segregation with the concept of separate but equal was an embarrassingly bad idea

00:39

See er, Brown v Board was the flip side of Plessy the case arose out of the growing [People protesting together]

00:45

civil rights movement during the decades after World War two groups like the

00:49

NAACP civil rights group as well as emerging leaders of the movement

00:54

we're not going to take inequality lying down well leading the NAACP was [members of the NAACP]

01:00

Charles Hamilton Houston who was determined to see Jim Crow chased out of

01:04

town with the help of future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall Houston [Charles Houston and Thurgood Marshall looking to chase Jim Crow away]

01:09

devised a plan to kick Jim Crow laws where the sun don't shine.. to be clear we

01:14

meant you know in the field of Education Brown v Board was actually a

01:19

conglomeration of five cases that the NAACP bound together into a [5 NAACP lawsuit papers]

01:23

class-action lawsuit about the constitutionality of segregation in

01:28

public schools the Supreme Court heard the testimonies of nearly 200 plaintiffs

01:33

from Delaware Kansas South Carolina Washington DC and Virginia who revealed [Plaintiffs states outside the Supreme Court]

01:38

the fatal flaws of the doctrine of separate but equal well finally it

01:42

became totally clear that separate would never be equal..States did not have the

01:47

money and in many cases the will to provide equal education opportunities to [Man stood with a school]

01:52

both whites and blacks in separate settings well the only way to guarantee

01:56

blacks the rights promised them by the Constitution was to get rid of Plessy v

02:01

Ferguson and hide it away with other embarrassing things you know like those [Man hides Plessy v Ferguson behind a black curtain]

02:05

pics of Justice Earl Warren trying to learn how to skateboard. We kid [Earl Warren learning to skateboard]

02:10

they're Justice Earl though he was no skateboard master

02:13

and likely really tried to be he did manage to lead the Supreme Court in a

02:17

unanimous decision in favor of the NAACP and their clients in 1954 [Earl Warren with a plaster on his forehead]

02:22

the highest court in the land officially ruled that separate but equal was now

02:27

unconstitutional Brown v Board opened the floodgates of change we say floodgates [water rapids]

02:32

and we meant a slow steady trickle of change pro segregationists in the south

02:37

of which there were many flipped out when the court made their ruling they [Boy flipping on a skateboard]

02:42

whined and boo-hoo'd that all southern society was now doomed. Senator Strom Thurmond of [Cartoon baby crying]

02:48

South Carolina and Harry Byrd of Virginia wrote a lovely document called

02:52

the southern manifesto in which it commended States who resisted [Harry Byrd and Storm Thurmond's southern manifesto]

02:58

desegregation guys like this did a great job of delaying the progress the trouble

03:03

was that the actual job of desegregating was in the hands of local school [Teacher giving a presentation to students]

03:07

districts many of which were run by white people who thought exactly like

03:11

Strom though most schools in the South were still segregated well into the [School children huddled together]

03:15

1960s in fact only 8% of southern schools had been fully integrated a

03:20

decade after Brown v Board still we're not trying to knock the importance of [Girl performing boxing techniques]

03:24

this win for civil right it proved to civil rights leaders and to all of black

03:29

America that legal battles against Jim Crow could be waged and won. It [Woman chasing Jim Crow with a red bat]

03:34

energized the movement revving them up for the battles to come I don't like

03:39

when we watch Spartacus to get pumped before paintball battles okay well maybe [Man wearing spartan clothing being shot by a paintball]

03:43

not like that at all but you know you get the idea

Full Transcript