WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) and Representative Steve Watkins (Kan. - 02) today offered bicameral, bipartisan resolutions to recognize the 65^th anniversary of the landmark Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision ending segregation in Kansas and across the United States.

“It is important to recognize the contributions of Kansans like Oliver and Linda Brown and their fight to ensure there is equal justice for all Americans,” Senator Roberts said. “This resolution reminds us of the sacrifices they made in the civil rights movement and of the enduring importance of their fight.”

“I am proud to be introducing this resolution alongside Senator Roberts to remember and honor Linda Brown and the 65^th anniversary of the Brown V. Board of Education ruling," said Rep. Watkins. "At the age of just nine years old, Linda Brown’s courage remains an example of the best our nation has to offer. In 1954, in the face of decades of legalized discrimination, Linda Brown and her family emerged victorious at the Supreme Court. Linda Brown fought for what was right, not what was easy, and the nation is forever grateful.”

The resolution was sponsored by the Kansas federal delegation: Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), Rep. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), Rep. Sharice Davids (D-Kan.) and Rep. Ron Estes (R-Kan.).

The text of the resolution is as follows:

Title: Honoring the 65th anniversary on May 17, 2019, of the landmark decision of the Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954).

Whereas in 1950, 9-year-old Linda Brown, the daughter of Oliver L. Brown, was denied entry into the all-white Sumner Elementary School in Topeka, Kansas, and forced to attend the all-black Monroe Elementary School in Topeka, Kansas;

Whereas on February 28, 1951, the complaint in Brown v. Board of Education was filed with the United States District Court for the District of Kansas, with Oliver L. Brown as the lead plaintiff;

Whereas the plaintiffs in Brown v. Board of Education appealed the ruling of the district court to the Supreme Court;

Whereas, at the Supreme Court, the case of Brown v. Board of Education was combined with other cases from South Carolina, Delaware, Virginia, and the District of Columbia regarding segregation in public schools;

Whereas Thurgood Marshall argued the case of Brown v. Board of Education before the Supreme Court as lead counsel for the appellants;

Whereas on May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court delivered a unanimous opinion holding that—

(1) separate educational facilities are inherently unequal; and

(2) the “separate but equal” doctrine violated the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which states that no citizen may be denied equal protection under the law;
 

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

(1) overruled the 1896 decision in Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (1896);

(2) ended discriminatory Jim Crow laws; and

(3) invalidated the “separate but equal” doctrine, ending segregated classrooms in Kansas and across the United States;

Whereas, in a second opinion issued on May 31, 1955, the Supreme Court decreed that schools should be desegregated with all deliberate speed;

Whereas, because of the role that Linda Brown played in ending racial segregation in the United States, Linda Brown became a civil rights icon and continued to be a voice for school desegregation in Topeka, Kansas;

Whereas Linda Brown passed away on March 27, 2018, at the age of 75 in Topeka, Kansas; and

Whereas Congress established the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site, which is located at Monroe Elementary School in Topeka, Kansas, the school that Linda Brown attended: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the Senate recognizes and celebrates—

(1) the 65th anniversary on May 17, 2019, of the landmark decision of the Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954); and

(2) the contribution the decision has made to—

(A) equal education; and

(B) equal justice under the law, which is recognized in the Declaration of Independence and guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States.

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