In May of 1954, the Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education, finding segregated schools “inherently unequal.” One year later, the Court issued its “Ruling on Relief,”  mandating that desegregation proceed “with all deliberate speed.” Given the deliberate vagueness of the instruction, Southern school authorities delayed compliance.

On this day, we are pleased to post this essay by Lucas Morel, Class of 1960 Professor of Ethics and Politics at Washington and Lee University and long time former faculty member at Teaching American History, who considers the lasting legacy of King's great speech:

For the past year, Teaching American History’s webinars have been about the presidential election. Last spring, we broke down the presidential election cycle.  We spent this fall diving into the rhetorical traditions of American politics. 

For Bill of Rights Day (December 15), we offer an explanation of how these first ten amendments came to be added to the Constitution. The first Congress drafted the Bill of Rights, and presented them for ratification to the states, for both principled and prudential reasons. Many of those who opposed ratification of the Constitution complained that it did not protect the rights of individual citizens and the prerogatives of the states.