March 12, 1956: The Southern Manifesto

Southern Senators, led by Strom Thurmond of South Carolina

March 12, 1956, 70 years ago: The Declaration of Constitutional Principles is signed, by 19 members of the U.S. Senate and 82 members of the U.S. House of Representatives, all from States that had been in the Confederate States of America.

Since there was not a goddamned thing about it that was constitutional, it became known as the Southern Manifesto, allowing people on the right side of the struggle for civil rights to do what these rednecks had been doing to them for years: Comparing them to Communists.

The main author was Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina. In 1948, as his State's Governor, he had briefly left the Democratic Party to run as the nominee for President of the States' Rights Party. From that point onward, Southern Democrats who opposed civil rights were known as "Dixiecrats."

It was written in response to the unanimous decision of the U.S. Supreme Court, 2 years earlier, in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, declaring that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional.

The Declaration included these words: "The unwarranted decision of the Supreme Court in the public school cases is now bearing the fruit always produced when men substitute naked power for established law."

This was a bald-faced lie: The decision was warranted, and it was a strike against naked power, in the form of "Jim Crow" laws that overturned established law.

It also said: "The original Constitution does not mention education. Neither does the 14th Amendment nor any other amendment. The debates preceding the submission of the 14th Amendment clearly show that there was no intent that it should affect the system of education maintained by the States."

This was true, but it covered up the text of the 14th Amendment: "No State shall make or enforce any law which shall...deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." This is known as the Equal Protection Clause.

It also said: "This unwarranted exercise of power by the Court, contrary to the Constitution, is creating chaos and confusion in the States principally affected. It is destroying the amicable relations between the white and Negro races that have been created through 90 years of patient effort by the good people of both races. It has planted hatred and suspicion where there has been heretofore friendship and understanding."

This was a lie: There had not been friendship. And the Court's decision didn't create confusion; it clarified the law.

Three Democratic Senators from Southern States did not sign: Albert Gore and Estes Kefauver of Tennessee, and the Majority Leader, Lyndon Johnson of Texas. In the House, 16 of 21 Democrats from Texas refused to sign it, including the Speaker of the House, Sam Rayburn, and a future Speaker, Jim Wright. Also refusing to sign were 3 of the 11 Democrats from North Carolina; and 1 of the 7 from Florida, Dante Fascell.

The following year, Thurmond launched the longest filibuster the Senate had yet seen, in a vain attempt to stop the Civil Rights Act of 1957. When the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed, he became the 1st Dixiecrat to switch to the Republican Party. There would be many more.

Thurmond turned out to be the last-serving member who signed the Southern Manifesto, serving until 2003, shortly after his 100th birthday, and dying a few months later. The last surviving signer was Richard Poff of Virginia, who died in 2011.

The last-serving member who refused to sign was Jack Brooks of Texas, who served until 1994. The last surviving refuser was the aforementioned Jim Wright, who died in 2015.

May 17, 1954: Brown v. Board of Education

Thurgood Marshall in front of the Supreme Court Building, 1954

May 17, 1954, 70 years ago: In a unanimous 9-0 vote, the Supreme Court of the United States decides, in the case of Brown v. Board of Education, that segregation in public schools -- from kindergarten all the way up to State universities -- is unconstitutional.

Hail the wise men:

* Earl Warren, 63, from Oakland, California, the Chief Justice, formerly his State's Governor and Attorney General, and the Republican Party's nominee for Vice President in 1948. Appointed by the current President, Dwight D. Eisenhower, a Republican.

* Hugo Black, 68, from from Ashland, Alabama, formerly a Democratic U.S. Senator from his State. His was the most surprising vote of all: Not only was he a Southerner, but a former member of the Ku Klux Klan. Serving on the Court from 1937 until his death in 1971, his decisions seemed to be an effort to make up for his KKK membership. Appointed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, a Democrat.

* Stanley F. Reed, 69, from Minerva, Kentucky, formerly U.S. Solicitor General under FDR, who appointed him to the Supreme Court. Another Southerner who turned his back on white supremacy.

* Felix Frankfurter, 71, born in Vienna, Austria, but grew up on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. He had previously been among the founders of the American Civil Liberties Union, and an adviser to FDR and his Administration. FDR appointed him, as well.

* William O. Douglas, 55, from Yakima, Washington, formerly Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. He remains the longest-serving Justice in the Court's history, 36 years from 1939 to 1975. The current longest-serving Justice, Clarence Thomas, would have to serve until late 2027 to surpass him. Another FDR appointee.

* Robert H. Jackson, 62, from Frewsburg, Western New York, formerly U.S. Attorney General and Solicitor General, having succeeded Reed in that latter office. Another FDR appointee.

* Harold H. Burton, 65, from Boston, formerly U.S. Senator from Ohio and Mayor of Cleveland. FDR crossed Party lines to appoint Burton, a Republican, to the Court.

* Thomas C. Clark, 54, from Dallas, another former Attorney General under FDR. Another Southerner voting to strike down segregation. Appointed by President Harry S Truman, a Democrat.

* Sherman Minton, 64, from Georgetown, Indiana, formerly U.S. Senator from his State. Appointed by Truman.

The full name of the case was Oliver Brown et al. v. The Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. The named plaintiff, Oliver Brown, was a welder working for a railroad, and an assistant pastor. His daughter, Linda Carol Brown, was in the 3rd grade, and had to walk 6 blocks to her school bus stop to ride to Monroe Elementary School in Topeka, an all-black school, 1 mile away. Sumner Elementary School, all-white, was just 7 blocks away -- 1 block longer than the walk to the bus.

Thurgood Marshall argued the case for the plaintiffs, as the general counsel for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The ruling overturned the case of Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896, which ruled that "separate but equal" facilities be provided in public places. In Brown v. Board, the Supreme Court ruled that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal."

In 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson decided to make Marshall the 1st black Justice on the Supreme Court. But there was no vacancy. So he decided to create one: He got Nicholas Katzenbach, his Attorney General, to take a post as an Under Secretary of State, and appointed Ramsey Clark to be the new Attorney General. In order to avoid a conflict of interest, Clark's father, Justice Tom Clark, retired.

Oliver Brown died of a heart attack in 1961, only 42 years old. Linda Carol Brown grew up to become a teacher and a civil rights advocate, and lived until 2018. Douglas was the last of the 9 Brown Justices to still be serving, in 1975; while Reed was the last survivor of those Justices, dying in 1980, 74 days after Douglas. Marshall lived until 1993.