“With All Deliberate Speed”

1. Linda Brown, age 7 “Segregation of white and colored children in public schools has a detrimental effect upon the colored children. The impact is greater when it has the sanction of the law, for the policy of separating the races is usually interpreted as denoting the inferiority of the Negro group...Any language in contrary to this finding is rejected. We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.” —Earl Warren, Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court “With All Deliberate Speed” Background Information & Discussion Guide

2. ALLUSIONS found in the poem 1 Brown v. Board of Ed. 2

3. 3 Linda Brown 4 Men in black robes

4. Men in white robes 5

5. IRONY in the poem • LINE 7: (No Lindas Allowed) • LINES 13-15: “…when Linda finds a new home in middle school, the black robes figure it’s time to open a few elementary windows, air the place out, so no more separate tomfoolery can ever be equal.” • Last Stanza: “But twenty-five years later, Linda Brown Smith realizes new winds are still not welcome everywhere, so why not take the windows out altogether.” • The title itself: “With All Deliberate Speed”

6. SYMBOLS in the poem • Monroe Elementary School - poverty; stagnation; shame • Sumner Elementary School - wealth; promise; integrity • Black robes - education; wisdom; progressiveness • White robes - hatred; bigotry • Wind - innovation; desegregation • Windows - opportunity • Rain - equality

7. Figurative Language & Use of dialogue • HYPERBOLE  “…where rumor has it that a kid can even pack a rainbow in his lunchbox.” • FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE  “And just above all of Topeka floats a question it seems can only be answered by certain men in black robes. The white robes have already decided.” • DIALOGUE  Linda says “Hallelujah” & her folks and neighbors say, “What took so long?”

8. Video Clips • An excerpt from PBS special – Desegratation http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTGHLdr-iak&feature=related • An excerpt from a Discovery Channel special – Brown v. Board of Education http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2XHob_nVbw • Separate, But Equal: Rare Images from the Segregated South http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSYNhFyEHoo&feature=related

9. White School, Paxville, SC (exterior)

10. White School, Topeka, Kansas (interior)

11. Paxville “Colored School,” SC (exterior)

12. “Colored School” (interior)

13. HISTORY: Brown v. Board of Education Desegregation of Schools

14. Case Information Brown v. Board: Five Communities That Changed America • "Probably no case ever to come before the nation’s highest tribunal affected more directly the minds, hearts, and daily lives of so many Americans…. The decision marked the turning point in the nation’s willingness to face the consequences of centuries of racial discrimination.”¹ • On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court proclaimed that “in the field of public education ‘separate but equal’ has no place.” This historic ruling in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka overturned the Court’s 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson decision that had sanctioned racial segregation. The landmark case marked the culmination of a decades-long legal battle waged by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and residents of several communities. • Although people often associate the case with Linda Brown, a young girl whose parents sued so that she could attend an all-white school, Brown v. Board actually consisted of five separate cases.² Originating in four states and the District of Columbia, all began as grassroots efforts to either enroll black students in all-white schools or obtain improved facilities for black students. By the fall of 1952, the Supreme Court had accepted the cases independently on appeal and decided to hear arguments collectively. None of these cases would have been possible without individuals who were courageous enough to take a stand against the inequalities of segregation. Today, several of the schools represented in Brown v. Board of Education stand as poignant reminders of the struggle to abolish segregation in public education. ¹ Richard Kluger, Simple Justice (New York: Vintage Books, 1977), x.² Brown v. Board consolidated separate cases from four states. A fifth public school segregation case from Washington, DC was considered in the context of Brown, but resulted in a separate opinion. References to Brown in this lesson plan collectively refer to all five cases.

15. (From top to bottom: Sumner School, Monroe School, John Philip Sousa Junior High School, Robert R. Moton High School, Summerton High School, and Howard High School. National Historic Landmark and National Register photos.)