Pelosi Statement on the 60th Anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education

Contact: Drew Hammill, 202-226-7616

San Francisco – Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi released the following statement on the 60th anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education, which was issued on May 17, 1954:

"Sixty years ago, the Supreme Court unlocked the schoolhouse doors, broke down yet another barrier to equality, and bent the long arc of moral history toward justice. In this landmark moment, the highest court in the land did more than simply discard ‘separate but equal' onto the ash heap of history; it reaffirmed the true meaning of our nation's creed – that all are created equal.

"The unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education declared that education is ‘a right which must be made available to all on equal terms.' Yet while this case brought students of different races together in the same classrooms, still today, too many children, in every community, lack access to a quality education. That is as unacceptable now as segregation was 60 years ago. It is our responsibility to invest in our future by empowering all young people with the skills and knowledge to succeed and thrive.

"Issued in 1954, the Brown decision would spur more than a decade of struggle for civil rights – beginning with bus boycotts and sit-ins, continuing with marches on a mall in Washington and across a bridge in Selma, culminating in the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act. Six decades later, it falls on our shoulders to keep up that fight for equality: to preserve the right of every child to a good education; to protect the right of every citizen to vote; to defend the right of every American to justice and opportunity."

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