Brown v. Board of Education at Fifty A Rhetorical Retrospective

by Rountree, Clarke; Burnette, Ann E.; Droge, David; Gill, Ann M.; Hasian, Marouf, Jr.; Mangis, Daniel

• ISBN13: 9780739108543
• ISBN10: 0739108549
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-11-09
• Publisher: Lexington Books

Summary

This collection of persuasive scholarly essays examines, for the first time, the role rhetorical theory played in the development of educational segregation. Contributors consider the NAACPs development of a series of graduate school cases to challenge Plessy, analyze the Brown decision itself, assess the state response to Brown, and critique the two Supreme Court decisions implementing the Brown decision. By illustrating how rhetorical strategies created, sustained, challenged, and, ultimately, reversed educational segregation in the United States, this work demonstrates the real value of the rhetorical perspective and provides encouragement to those who wish to help further develop this emerging field of judicial rhetoric.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
Introduction	xi
Clarke Rountree
1 Revisiting the Case of Plessy v. Ferguson	1	(22)
Marouf Hasian Jr.
2 Dissent as Prophecy: Justice John Marshall Harlan's Dissent in Plessy v. Ferguson as the Religious Rhetoric of Law	23	(26)
Daniel Mangis
3 Setting the Stage for Brown v. Board of Education: The NAACP's Litigation Campaign against the "Separate but Equal" Doctrine	49	(42)
Clarke Rountree
4 From Natural to Cultural Inferiority: The Symboli Reconstruction of White Supremacy in Brown v. Board of Education	91	(28)
David Droge
5 The Rhetoric of Virginia's Massive Resistance Movement	119	(24)
Ann E. Burnette
6 The Supreme Court's Rhetoric of Legitimization	143	(28)
Ann M. Gill
Works Cited	171	(16)
Cases Cited	187	(2)
Index	189	(10)
About the Contributors	199