The Road from "Separate But Equal" to "With All Deliberate Speed": Civil Rights in Public Education

Duration: 
March 16, 2011 to October 23, 2011

The end of the Civil War brought the passage of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution. Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), decided by the United States Supreme Court with only one dissenting vote, made “separate but equal” the law of the land. Materials in the exhibit show the racism prevalent in the United States and the legal decisions that began to chip away at the problem. Included are images of the Plessy v. Ferguson decision, segregated facilities, sub-standard classrooms and a copy of the Brown v. Board decision as well as letters found in Virginia politician’s papers in the Special Collections Research Center.

In Brown v. Board (1954) The United States Supreme Court overthrew the Plessy v. Ferguson doctrine of “separate but equal” for educational purposes: “We conclude that, in the field of public education, the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.” The court held that the plaintiffs were deprived of the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment. Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote the opinion in what became known as Brown v. Board (II). He said the localities should act to move to compliance, and used the phrase, “with all deliberate speed.”Southern political leaders now had to cope with school integration. Governors were reluctant to implement such a policy, and heels would be dragged and subterfuges used for many years to try to get around full compliance.

This exhibit is part of "From Fights to Rights: The Long Road to a More Perfect Union," Swem Library's project to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Civil War and the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Movement.

Curators: Alan Zoellner, Government Information Librarian and Susan Riggs, Manuscripts and Rare Books Librarian; Exhibit design and installation: Chandi Singer, Burger Archives Assistant; Priscilla Wood, SCRC Volunteer; Staci Chapman ’11, SCRC Student Assistant. Graphics: Fred Hassell ’11, SCRC Student Assistant.

An image of the installed exhibit is available at the SCRC's Flickr page.

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