Brown Vs. the Board of Education

"Brown vs. the Board of Education" is a series of court cases that concluded in the judicial decision by the Supreme Court to desegregate schools in 1954. It was not the first time that law suit was filed for this issue, but it was the first that was successful. One of the cases was formally called "Oliver L. Brown v. the Board of Education of Topeka (KS)." Oliver L. Brown was a minister in Topeka, Kansas. His eight-year-old daughter was denied access to a local white school, so Brown took the issue to the Supreme Court. He got help from the NAACP and Thurgood Marshall, a black lawyer from Howard University who later became a Supreme Court Justice. They also took similar cases from South Carolina, Virginia, and Delaware. These cases were collectively known as Brown vs. the Board of Education. One of arguments the prosecutors utilized was the 14th Amendment, the law that guarantees equal protection of the laws. Before these cases, there was the policy that blacks and whites will remain separated, but equal. This did not work out because the different schools did not get the same materials to work with. Compared to white schools, black schools were shabbier and more outdated with less experienced teachers and equipment (books) that were in bad condition. After the Supreme Court's decision to desegregate schools, white schools then had to accept black students into their student body. Needless to say, not a lot of people liked this, but it was the law. The president had to deploy the army at one time to keep people from preventing blacks to enter school. This court decision was a great step for the Civil Rights Movement, but it still had a ways to go.
If this decision was made in "To Kill A Mockingbird" before Scout entered school, then a lot of things would have been different. Blacks may have been in Scout's and Jem's class. The teacher may have ignored them, but the students would not. They may beat up some of the black kids, and maybe Scout would have had a word or two about that. Some of the white kids may have been fascinated by the blacks and be friends with them. They would in turn be ridiculed by the other kids and leave or stay as true friends. The latter is more possible. Scout would surely not mind a black friend if given the opportunity in her first year of school. Jem would be harder to convert, but he would have gone along with it eventually. Some black families may have been bold enough to move into Maycomb County, but they would be constantly harassed. Maybe, Tom Robinson's case may have not been so hopeless as peoplw would have been exposed to the true nature of black people; that they are simply human beings. These are all "what-if" situations that are pointless compared to what actually happens, but people can always wonder if things could have been made fairer sooner.

http://brownvboard.org/summary/
http://brownvboard.org/foundation/teachingbrown/videos/index.php
http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/brown-v-board/bios.html

Connections from "Doubt" to "TKAM"

The scene from "Doubt" shows a Christian service explaining the sins of gossip by the way of a story. The story is about a woman who felt guilty about some gossip she spread across town. She goes to the priest to ask if this was a sin. The priest says yes and the woman repents. The priest does not forgive, but instead, he tells the woman to go home, take a pillow and a knife to the roof, and stab the pillow. The woman does this and comes back to the priest. She tells him that she saw feathers flying everywhere. The priest tells the woman to gather all the feathers. The woman tells the priest that that task was impossible. Then the priest says, "And that is GOSSIP!" Some connections I can draw from "To Kill A Mockingbird" to this story is the abundant amount of gossip about Boo Radley. They are so numerous and strange that it is impossible to trace where they originally came from. Ms. Crawford is a prime suspect, though. Another connection is to the slander that Atticus receives. It is gossip that is meant to be heard and hurt the subject. Both of these things has to do with things that people do not know much about or are strangers of. Boo Radley has always stayed in the Radley place, so no one knows much about him anymore. Some people say that Boo eats small animals, look into other people's window's, stabbed Mr. Radley in the leg with scissors, died and got stuffed into the chimney, and scares little children (namely Scout). Atticus is about to defend a black man to the best of his abilities. No one has ever heard of such a thing and denounces it. They think that black people deserves no second thought. Since it was Mr. Ewell who accused Tom Robinson, it can be inferred that they would rather trust a rotten animal trapper who does nothing to contribute to society than a black man who is a good friend to Calpernia and has a family that needs food. Atticus is a legitimate lawyer protecting the American's right to an attorney and a fair court trial with a jury (even if the jury should be prejudiced). People keep saying that he is a man who values a black man over other principle. They think this is an insult since their thoughts on the values of a black man is pretty low. The truth is that Atticus values all human life equally. The other citizens of Maycomb County just do not understand that sort of thing. The strange and the unknown are constantly the victims of gossip. That also goes for the despised.

Who is Harper Lee?

Harper Lee’s first and only novel to reach print was “To Kill a Mockingbird.” She started writing it in 1956 calling it “Go Set a Watchman,” and then later renamed “Atticus.” Lee finished the manuscript in 1959 as “To Kill a Mockingbird” and published it the next year. She was 34 at the time. Her book won the Pulitzer Prize in 1961 and the movie adaptation won four movie awards including Best Actor awarded to Gregory Peck who acted as Atticus. She was said to be working on a second novel, but it was never published.

Harper Lee was born on April 28, 1926 in Monroeville, Alabama to a father, who was a former newspaper editor and proprietor, state senator, and a practiced lawyer of Monroeville. She was the youngest of four and described as a tomboy. She had a childhood friend named Truman Capote who grew up to write articles in the magazine, The New Yorker, and the authored the book titled “In Cold Blood” to what Lee also contributed to (though the nonfiction book is only dedicated to her and does not specify any credit to due to her). After completing college, Lee went to New York to pursue a dream of writing. She worked as a ticket agent for two airlines until she was able to write full time in 1956, courtesy to the family of Michael Martin Brown. The product of this first effort at full time writing was "To Kill a Mockingbird."

References to Harper Lee:
http://kirjasto.sci.fi/harperle.htm
http://www.harperlee.com/bio.htm
http://www.biography.com/articles/Harper-Lee-937702