Brown v. Board of Education

This behind-the-scenes story of the people and events leading to the landmark Brown v. Board of Education's Supreme Court decision shows that even if the justice sought may be simple, getting it is long and complicated.Rubin begins with the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson Supreme Court decision and the legally sanctioned lie of "separate but equal" that, along with Jim Crow, established a long era of American apartheid. The hero of the story is, of course, Thurgood Marshall, but Rubin gives other significant players their due, including NAACP attorneys Robert L. Carter and Spotswood Robinson and psychologist Kenneth Clark (all three African-American). Rubin explains that, although known as Brown v. Board of Education, the case applied not just to that of Linda Brown, a black third-grader refused entry to an all-white Topeka, Kansas, school, but to cases involving children in South Carolina, Delaware, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. This clear and concise chronicle explains each of these cases, the plaintiffs involved, and how, through the careful strategizing by the NAACP, they culminated in the Brown decision. She includes a complete text of the 14th Amendment and summaries of the cases and notes that the long, painful struggle for integration to ensure equality continues to this day. A rich, compelling story of the many people who stood up to racial inequality, risking significant danger and hardship for the cause of justice. (photos, timeline, bibliography, source notes, index) (Nonfiction. 10-14) COPYRIGHT(1) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from October 1, 2016

Gr 6-8-In a highly readable narrative, this title tells the story of the monumental 1954 Supreme Court decision that mandated desegregation in public schools in the United States. In short, comprehensible chapters, Rubin describes the development of five individual cases as they were strategically fought and often lost at the district level. Eventually all five appealed together to the highest court of the nation. The book demystifies this legal journey and puts a face to it by profiling the young student plaintiffs, their brave and determined parents, and, in particular, Thurgood Marshall, the lead lawyer for the NAACP and the driving force behind the legal struggle for desegregation. These personal stories, as well as other interesting details and descriptions, make for an approachable and easily digestible account that succeeds in bringing history to life. The work ends with an epilogue looking at the impact of desegregation on today's schools. This title is fastidiously well researched, and Rubin backs up her story with thorough summaries of each court case, the full text of the Fourteenth Amendment, and Chief Justice Earl Warren's opinion on the decision. Relevant black-and-white photographs, many from the NAACP's collections, are peppered throughout. VERDICT An engaging and thorough take on an important topic, this is a first purchase for middle school U.S. history collections.-Clara Hendricks, Cambridge Public Library, MA

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from September 1, 2016
Grades 6-9 *Starred Review* Rubin, whose previous books include Diego Rivera (2013) and Freedom Summer (2014), presents a well-researched and clearly written account of the Brown v. Board of Education case. The book's informative introduction explains the indignities and injustices arising from long-standing racial prejudice in America, the legal precedent for school segregation, and the upbringing and education of Thurgood Marshall, who graduated from Howard University School of Law with a deep sense of purpose. Two decades later he would successfully argue before the Supreme Court that it is impossible to have equality in a segregated system. The Brown v. Board of Education case combined five separate legal appeals involving segregated schools in Kansas, South Carolina, Virginia, Delaware, and Washington, D.C. While the complex story behind the landmark case has been told before, this large-format book is particularly valuable because Rubin sets the stage so well, discusses each of the five cases and the students involved so lucidly, and goes beyond the court's unanimous decision by noting the resistance to school desegregation in the years that followed it. The book's page design and the many well-chosen archival photos make the story more readable, and the appended time line and documents will be useful to student researchers. Highly recommended.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)