Reflect on Your Knowledge

In this section, you will examine your current knowledge about the Civil Rights Movement, particularly the impact of the Brown decision on the American civil rights landscape. Discuss the following questions with your colleagues or reflect on them in your journal.

• Plessy v. Ferguson gave a legal blessing and permission to the practice of separate facilities and accommodations for whites and people of other races in America. How and why was the time "right" for overturning Plessy when Brown came along 58 years later? What made the conditions in America in 1954 ripe for civil rights change?
• Since Brown only changed "separate but equal" in American public education, what role did it play in bringing overall civil rights to blacks and other racial and ethnic minority groups (and even women) in America? What were the wider implications and influences of the Brown decision?