#27 "The Effects of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka"
- Podcast Teaser Trailer
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Episode Preview -- "The Effects of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka"
- Episode Number
- Students Podcasting History Episode #27
- Episode Title
- #27 "The Effects of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka"
- Key Words
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WEB DuBois, Souls of Black Folk, segregation, Brown v. Board, Supreme Court,
Plessy v. Ferguson, MLK, Letter from Birmingham Jail, Kenneth and Mamie Clark, Doll Test,
Earl Warren, Southern Manifesto - Episode Introduction
- Starting in the 1930s, the Civil Rights Movement lasted through the 1960s. Many different activists fought for their equality in diverse ways so that their voices to be heard, but the most influential movement was the verdict of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. This Supreme Court case in 1954 was pivotal in the history of Civil Rights as it exposed the truth behind the double consciousness effect after psychologists Kenneth and Mamie Clark conducted the doll test in the 1940s. After finding the psychological impact on children of the “separate but equal” clause unconstitutional, the verdict of Plessy v. Ferguson was overturned. This podcast will reevaluate the historical discovery found by the Clark family and how the double consciousness effect applies to the entire African-American population. The doll experiment revealed that black children between the ages of three and seven preferred a white doll, which was associated with positive attributes, over the other two races, while the black doll was associated with negative characteristics. The Clarks preferred “prejudice, discrimination, and segregation [in America] created a feeling of inferiority among African-American children and damaged their self-esteem” (“The Significance of The Doll Test,” NAACP Legal Defense Fund, November 9, 2023). By picking the white doll, this study verifies the ideas of double consciousness that W.E.B. DuBois first coined in 1903. He identifies the practice as “looking at oneself through the eyes of others” (Dr. Andrew Maginn, “Civil Rights,” History 202B: US History 2, (Civil Rights lecture, Sewanee: University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee, March 24, 2025). While viewing their skin tone through the lens of prejudiced America, the children chose the white doll, falling victim to the racism they have experienced in their short lives.
- Hosted By
- John John Pajcic
- Host Biography
- : I am John John Pajcic, a freshman at Sewanee: The University of the South. I was born in Jacksonville, Florida and grew up with a close family. My major is undecided as of now, while I take various classes to see what I am interested in. Currently, I am in U.S. History II with Professor Andrew Maginn, and this is a podcast on my independent research on the Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. Students Podcasting History is an educational resource developed by students in Dr. Andrew Maginn’s History of the United States II course to highlight crucial movements in American History through podcasting. The students research and interpret primary and secondary sources to discuss pivotal themes, people, and events in the United States' history from 1865 through the present. Through creatively sharing these narratives and learning digital tools, these students hope to make history more accessible and exciting for the general public.
- The Show
- Students Podcasting History is an educational resource developed by students in Dr. Andrew Maginn’s History of the United States II course to highlight crucial movements in American History through podcasting. The students research and interpret primary and secondary sources to discuss pivotal themes, people, and events in the United States' history from 1865 through the present. Through creatively sharing these narratives and learning digital tools, these students hope to make history more accessible and exciting for the general public.
- Source
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Carmen Fields, “Dr Kenneth Clark | The Doll Test and Desegregation (1988)” Reelback
One, 2019, 0:00-1:00, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-nH8LE4zAU
Dr. Andrew Maginn, “Civil Rights,” History 202B: US History 2, (Civil Rights lecture,
Sewanee: University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee, March 24, 2025).
Gordon Parks, "Problem Kids: New Harlem Clinic Rescues Ghetto Youth from
Emotional Short Circuit," Ebony Magazine. Vol. 2, Issue 9, (July 1947): 20-28.
https://archive.org/details/sim_ebony_1947-07_2_9/page/18/mode/2up
Gwen Bergner, “Black Children, White Preference: Brown v. Board, the Doll Tests, and
the Politics of Self-Esteem,” American Quarterly, Vol. 61, No. 2, (2009): 299–332.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/27734991?seq=1
Kenneth B. Clark & Mamie P. Clark, “Emotional Factors in Racial Identification and
Preference in Negro Children,” Journal of Negro Education, Vol. 19, No. 3, (1950):
341-350. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2966491?seq=1
The Atlantic Monthly; August 1963; The Negro Is Your Brother; Volume 212, No. 2;
pages 78 - 88.
https://www.csuchico.edu/iege/_assets/documents/susi-letter-from-birmingham-jail.pdf
W.E.B. DuBois, The Souls of Black Folk, (Edited by Henry L. Gates and Terri H Oliver:
W. W. Norton & Company, New York, 1999) page 11. - Contact Information
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Contact Information: Feel free to check out our website, Students Podcasting History, and see
all of my peers work as well!
https://www.andrewwyattmaginn.org/Digital_Humanities/s/studentspodcastinghistory/page/hom
e