When all was ready, the man reached in his pocket for a second piece of birch bark. he knew the bark was there, and, though he could not feel it with his fingers, he could hear its crisp rustling as he fumbled for it. try as he would, he could not clutch hold of it. and all the time, in his consciousness, was the knowledge that each instant his feet were freezing. this thought tended to put him in a panic, but he fought against it and kept calm. this conflict occurs in the plots?

What is most likely the speaker’s reason to open with this? in approaching this problem, we cannot turn the clock back to 1868, when the [fourteenth] amendment was adopted, or even to 1896, when plessy v. ferguson was written. we must consider public education in the light of its full development and its present place in american life throughout the nation. only in this way can it be determined if segregation in public schools deprives these plaintiffs of the equal protection of the laws.