The following Web sites can help educators and students learn more about the historical and legal context of the Brown case as well as future implications of the landmark ruling.
Landmark Supreme Court Cases: Brown v. Board of Education
This site features key U.S. Supreme Court case excerpts, biographies of major players, reading assignments, and classroom resources related to the Brown case.
NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund: Brown v. Board of Education
The Legal Defense and Educational Fund was founded by Thurgood Marshall in 1940. Marshall would go on to become the first African American Supreme Court Justice 13 years after leading the legal team that won the Brown case. Visit this site for a detailed chronology of the civil rights movement in education from the 1930s until last year’s college affirmative action rulings.
Civil Rights Project at Harvard
Harvard University’s Civil Rights Project has released a number of recent reports on the impact of integration and the resegregation trend, including Brown at 50: King’s Dream or Plessy’s Nightmare?
National Park Service: Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site
This Web site has detailed information about the Supreme Court case and historical information about Monroe Elementary School, the formerly all-black school attended by Linda Brown, whose father sued the Topeka Board of Education when she was turned away from enrolling in an all-white elementary school. Monroe School will reopen as a national historic site in Topeka, Kan., on May 17, 2004, the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Brown ruling.
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights
The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights investigates complaints into discrimination or a denial of equal protection of the laws under the Constitution because of race, color, religion, sex, age, disability, or national origin, or in the administration of justice. See the commission’s publication page for detailed reports on civil rights issues in schools and other institutions.