South Carolina General Assembly
116th Session, 2005-2006

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Bill 4819


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A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

TO COMMEMORATE THOSE INVOLVED IN THE LANDMARK SOUTH CAROLINA CASE, BRIGGS V. ELLIOTT, FOR THEIR COURAGE AND COMMITMENT TO JUSTICE IN CHALLENGING THE CONSTITUTIONALITY OF "SEPARATE BUT EQUAL" EDUCATION AND TO RECOGNIZE THEM FOR THEIR HEROIC CONTRIBUTIONS TO EDUCATIONAL EQUALITY AND OPPORTUNITY FOR ALL SOUTH CAROLINIANS.

Whereas, outraged at the glaring disparity between the facilities afforded to black children and those afforded to their white counterparts, Reverend Joseph A. De Laine persuaded black parents in Clarendon County to ask the NAACP to file a class action lawsuit. Their petition for equal school facilities for all children resulted in Briggs v. Elliott, the first of five cases the U.S. Supreme Court combined into Brown v. Board of Education; and

Whereas, Briggs v. Elliott, a truly ground-breaking case on many levels, marked the first time in the nation's history that anyone challenged state segregation in public schools; and

Whereas, NAACP lawyer and future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall persuaded the United States Supreme Court to unanimously rule that segregated public schools violated rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution; and

Whereas, the decision reached by the Court did not come without consequence, as litigants involved in the case endured unimaginable hardships and brutal attacks, death threats, loss of jobs and livelihoods, eviction from their homes, public humiliation, and scorn for refusing to back down even in the face of overwhelming adversity; and

Whereas, Reverend Joseph A. De Laine, Levi Pearson, and Harry and Eliza Briggs, all instrumental in bringing the case and seeing it to its triumphant end, have posthumously been awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, the nations' highest civilian award, for their indomitable courage and unrelenting perseverance to see that justice was achieved for all children, regardless of skin color; and

Whereas, this watershed case categorically changed the fabric of our lives and has had a lasting affect in South Carolina and throughout the nation because of the unyielding faith and pursuit of justice that those in Briggs v. Elliott demonstrated in their quest for equality of opportunity that is the bedrock of this great nation; and

Whereas, it is proper and fitting that the members of the South Carolina General Assembly pause in their deliberations to honor those heroic sons and daughters of South Carolina, these determined parents of Clarendon County school children who, through their moral convictions and self sacrifice, are heroes who moved this State and country forward in the pursuit of our forefather's proclamation that "all men are created equal". Now, therefore,

Be it resolved by the House of Representatives, the Senate concurring:

That the members of the South Carolina General Assembly, by this resolution, commemorate those individuals involved in the landmark South Carolina case, Briggs v. Elliott, for their courage and commitment to justice in challenging the constitutionality of "separate but equal" education and recognize them for their heroic contributions to educational equality and opportunity for all South Carolinians.

Be it further resolved that copies of this resolution be forwarded to the families of the twenty petitioners in the Briggs v. Elliott lawsuit: Harry Briggs, Sr., Annie Gipson, Mose Oliver, Bennie Parson, Edward Ragin, William Ragin, Lucrisher Richardson, Lee Richardson, James Bennett, Mary Oliver, William Stukes, G. H. Henry, Robert Georgia, Rebecca Richburg, Gabriel Tindal, Susan Lawson, Frederick Oliver, Onetha Bennett, Hazel Ragin, and Henry Scott, and to the families of the three local leaders in the Briggs v. Elliott petitioners' quest for equality: the Reverends Joseph A. De Laine, James W. Seals, and Edward E. Richburg.

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