Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

Does Treating People Equally Mean Treating Them the Same?


Think about the following question and discuss or write an answer:

Does treating people equally mean treating them the same?

What would it mean to treat people equally in the following situations?

A man and a woman apply for a job as a shoe sales person. What would the employer have to do to treat these two applicants equally?
Two patients come to a doctor with a headache. The doctor determines that one patient has a brain tumor and the other patient has a run-of-the mill headache. What would the doctor have to do to treat these two patients equally?
Two students try to enter a school that has stairs leading to the entrance. One student is handicapped and the other is not. What would the school have to do to treat these two students equally?
Two students live in the same school district. The students are the same age, but they are different races. What does the school district have to do to treat these two students equally.

Read more about the Equal = Same Dilemma.

Resources
About landmarkcases.org
 
Teaching Recommendations
Based on Your Time

 
Background Summary
and Questions

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Reading Level
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Reading Level
 
Diagram of How the Case Moved Through the Court System
 
Biographies
Earl Warren
Thurgood Marshall
 
Key Excerpts from the Majority Opinion
Brown I

 
Key Excerpts from the Majority Opinion
Brown II

 
Full Text of the Majority Opinion

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Activities
    The Case
Does Treating People Equally Mean Treating Them the Same?
 
Classifying Arguments for Each Side of the Case
 

How a Dissent Can Presage a Ruling: The Case of Justice Harlan
 

Immediate Reaction to the Decision: Comparing Regional Media Coverage
 
Political Cartoon Analysis

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    After the Case
All Deliberate Speed?
 
Case Study of Integration -- Little Rock
 
If You Were a Supreme Court Justice. . .
 
Was the Promise of Brown Fulfilled?


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Additional Resources
The Smithsonian's Separate is Not Equal: Brown v. Board of Education
 
Mix It Up

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