Observing the Fiftieth Anniversary of the 1954 United States Supreme Court School Desegregation Decision in Brown v the Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas

As Americans commemorate the 50th anniversary of the "Brown v the Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas" U.S. Supreme Court public school desegregation decision on (the Brown decision), the author was tempted to refer to it as a "celebration of the Golden Anniversary of the legal end to racial segregation in the public schools of the United States." When the decision was rendered, on May 17,1954, he was so elated that he was confident that 50 years later public school racial desegregation would be a thing of the past and a truly "golden celebration" would be highly appropriate. While he is still convinced that the Brown Decision was a necessary and fundamental prerequisite for human dignity, race relations, personal/social adjustment, equal educational access, and progress toward the American Ideal, events that have emerged and continuing efforts to obscure, evade, emasculate, and override the Decision, demand that Americans have an "observance" rather than a "celebration" in its "golden" year. There can be no doubt that the Brown Decision was one of the Court's most important, judicially ground-breaking, precedent-setting ones, with far-reaching impacts on the U.S. Congress, lower federal and state courts, state legislatures, the Presidency, federal agencies, private corporations and businesses, and of course, all levels of public and federally assisted educational institutions. To put all of this into perspective, the author examines the philosophies, societal patterns and court rulings that established, regulated, and limited the roles, status, and behavior of Negroes (blacks) in the United States, prior to the Brown Ruling. A list of some of the most successful cases on civil rights and race relations from 1948-1974 is presented.