THIS IS AMERICA - Fiftieth Anniversary of Ruling Against Rac

THIS IS AMERICA - Fiftieth Anniversary of Ruling Against Racial Separation in Schools
By Cynthia Kirk

Broadcast: Monday, May 17, 2004

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VOICE ONE:

Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA, in VOA Special English. I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Faith Lapidus. Today we look back at an event fifty years ago in civil rights history. On May seventeenth, ninety-fifty-four, the Supreme¹ Court ruled that racial separation in public schools violated² the Constitution.

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VOICE ONE:

The year is eighteen-ninety-six. Northern states won the Civil War thirty years ago. Southerners lost the right to have slaves. Black people are supposed to have the same legal rights now as white people under the Constitution.

Yet the Supreme Court has just declared that blacks and whites can be educated in separate schools. The schools can be separate as long as the quality of the education is equal.

VOICE TWO:

Now it is nineteen-fifty-four. Almost sixty years have passed. These days, there is a lot of talk about civil rights. The United States armed services are no longer separated by race. President Harry³ Truman made that an order in nineteen-forty-eight, three years after World War Two ended.

After the war, society is changing. Life is getting better, but not for all Americans. Equal treatment is an issue not just in the military.

 
Graphic⁴ Image
Now, the Supreme Court declares that schools paid for with public money must be open to students of all races.

VOICE ONE:

The case was important in the movement to gain equal rights for African Americans. At that time, it was legal to separate blacks and whites in public places as long as the services were "separate but equal." But schools for white children were almost always better.

The situation was worst in the South. Most blacks in the South were not permitted to vote. They were denied jobs. They often had to live in fear of racists.

The National Organization for the Advancement⁵ of Colored People is a leading civil rights group. In the nineteen-forties, the N-double-A-C-P decided⁶ to take action to get the Supreme Court to reconsider its eighteen-ninety-six ruling.

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VOICE TWO:

 
Graphic Image
In nineteen-fifty-one, the N-double-A-C-P sent its lawyers to help an African American man in the middle of the country. Oliver Brown of Topeka, Kansas, wanted to send his daughter, Linda, to a new school closer to their home. But the school said no. That school was for white children only.

So Oliver Brown and twelve other black parents in Topeka brought legal action. State courts ruled against them.

After that, the parents joined with black families in other states. Twenty other states also separated schoolchildren by race. With the help of the N-double-A-C-P, the parents appealed their case to the Supreme Court.

VOICE ONE:

The court decided to combine five cases involving schools in Kansas, South Carolina, Delaware, Virginia and Washington, D.C. These cases became known together as Brown versus⁷ the Board of Education.

 
Thurgood Marshall
Thurgood Marshall was the top lawyer for the civil rights organization. Later, he became the first African American justice on the Supreme Court.

The case opened in nineteen-fifty-two. Thurgood Marshall and other lawyers presented their side. They argued that separate schools denied black children the constitutional right of equal protection under the law.

VOICE TWO:

The Supreme Court justices considered the case for almost a year and a half. Then on May seventeenth, nineteen-fifty-four, they announced their decision. All nine justices called for an end to racial separation in public schools. They decided that the rule of "separate but equal" had no place in public education.

They found that separation made minority students feel of lesser⁸ value. This affected⁹ their ability to learn. The next year, the court said public schools must accept children of all races as quickly as possible.

Some of the twenty-one states moved quickly to permit black students and white students to attend the same schools. Some in the South, however, resisted. The governor of Virginia closed public schools to thousands of students rather than desegregate.

VOICE ONE:

In nineteen-fifty-seven, the governor of Arkansas called out state troops. Orval Faubus ordered them to bar a group of black students from a school in the city of Little Rock. President Dwight Eisenhower sent federal troops to Little Rock to protect black students.

In nineteen-sixty-four Congress passed a civil rights act. This law said the government could withdraw federal aid to schools that were racially separated. By nineteen-seventy, schools in the South were described as more integrated¹⁰ than anywhere else in the country. Experts say this remains¹¹ true. Yet it is still possible to find traditional events like separate dances for blacks and whites.

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VOICE TWO:

After the Brown decision, many people and groups organized protests to demand equal rights for black people in all areas of life. The ruling also led to hundreds of other civil rights cases along with legislation¹².

The Civil Rights Act of nineteen-sixty-four banned unequal treatment of black people in employment and public places. The Voting Rights Act of nineteen-sixty-five banned actions by Southern states that prevented black people from voting.

VOICE ONE:

Recently, experts have been discussing the progress made in the fifty years since the decision. Many note the improvements in the number of black students who graduate from high school. And they say growing numbers of minorities are studying science and engineering in higher education.

However, black and Hispanic students are still far more likely than whites or Asian Americans to leave high school early. Critics also note that there are areas throughout the country where racial and ethnic¹³ groups live separately. This is the result not of laws, but usually of economics¹⁴ and immigration patterns.

Research shows that most white, black and Hispanic students still go to a school where they are in the majority. Public schools get most of their money from taxes, often based on local property values. Schools that are mostly black or Hispanic often have too many students and not enough money. Many critics also say blacks and Hispanics are too often placed in lower-level programs instead of honors classes.

VOICE TWO:

Legal rulings during the nineteen-nineties have led to the end of court-supervised desegregation programs in many cities. These included programs like busing students across town in an effort to establish racially mixed schools. But creating a balance became more and more difficult. Many white families moved out of cities. Or they put their children into private schools.

Some critics say that segregation¹⁵ is worse now in parts of the country than it was at the time of the Brown decision. But some steps have been taken to improve the quality of schools.

In January of two-thousand-two, President Bush signed a federal education law that his administration proposed in Congress. The law is called No Child Left Behind. By two-thousand-fourteen, it calls for all children to be able to read and do math at the grade level for their age.

Yet many schools are struggling to meet the requirements. Some states have been taking steps to withdraw, even if they lose federal aid.

VOICE ONE:

One way schools have tried to increase racial balance is through affirmative action. Such programs give special consideration to minorities who want to attend. Last year, the Supreme Court agreed to let the University of Michigan law school continue its program.

Affirmative action is under attack, though. Some call it unfair. Others say students who attend racially mixed schools are better prepared to live in society. But some civil rights leaders say they are more concerned with the quality of the education than the racial balance of a school.

VOICE TWO:

The daughters of Oliver Brown are taking part in the fiftieth anniversary celebration of the ruling in their famous case. Linda Brown Thompson and her sister Cheryl Brown Henderson operate a private organization. It is called the Brown Foundation for Educational Equity¹⁶, Excellence¹⁷ and Research. It awards scholarships and publishes information about the case.

The Brown sisters say huge gains have been made since nineteen-fifty-four. But they say America still has a long way to go.

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VOICE ONE:

Our program was written by Cynthia Kirk and produced by Caty Weaver¹⁸. I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Faith Lapidus. Join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA, in VOA Special English.

1 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

2 violated   

亵渎( violate的过去式和过去分词 )； 违反； 侵犯； 强奸

参考例句：

• Note that thick, strong angles of tibia are not violated. 注意肥厚、结实的胫骨成角部分未受损坏。
• The soldiers violated the church by using it as a stable. 士兵们把教堂当马厩，亵渎了教堂。

3 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

4 graphic   

adj.生动的，形象的，绘画的，文字的，图表的

参考例句：

• The book gave a graphic description of the war.这本书生动地描述了战争的情况。
• Distinguish important text items in lists with graphic icons.用图标来区分重要的文本项。

5 advancement   

n.前进，促进，提升

参考例句：

• His new contribution to the advancement of physiology was well appreciated.他对生理学发展的新贡献获得高度赞赏。
• The aim of a university should be the advancement of learning.大学的目标应是促进学术。

6 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

7 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
• The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。

8 lesser   

adj.次要的，较小的；adv.较小地，较少地

参考例句：

• Kept some of the lesser players out.不让那些次要的球员参加联赛。
• She has also been affected,but to a lesser degree.她也受到波及，但程度较轻。

9 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

10 integrated   

a.整合的，完整的

参考例句：

• A fully integrated low phase noise LC voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) is presented.介绍了一种全集成的LC压控振荡器(VCO)的设计。

11 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

12 legislation   

n.立法，法律的制定；法规，法律

参考例句：

• They began to draft legislation.他们开始起草法规。
• The liberals band together against the new legislation.自由党员联合一致反对新的立法。

13 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

14 economics   

n.经济学，经济情况

参考例句：

• He is studying economics,which subject is very important.他正在学习经济学，该学科是很重要的。
• One can't separate politics from economics.不能把政治与经济割裂开来。

15 segregation   

n.隔离，种族隔离

参考例句：

• Many school boards found segregation a hot potato in the early 1960s.在60年代初，许多学校部门都觉得按水平分班是一个棘手的问题。
• They were tired to death of segregation and of being kicked around.他们十分厌恶种族隔离和总是被人踢来踢去。

16 equity   

n.公正，公平，（无固定利息的）股票

参考例句：

• They shared the work of the house with equity.他们公平地分担家务。
• To capture his equity,Murphy must either sell or refinance.要获得资产净值，墨菲必须出售或者重新融资。

17 excellence   

n.优秀，杰出，(pl.)优点，美德

参考例句：

• His art has reached a high degree of excellence.他的艺术已达到炉火纯青的地步。
• My performance is far below excellence.我的表演离优秀还差得远呢。

18 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。