Civil Right

On May 17, 1954, in the Supreme Court case of Brown v. Board of Education, the High Court, for the first time in American legal history, challenged the “separate but equal” doctrine previously established in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) and outlawed racial segregation in public schools. The decision, igniting fierce debates throughout the country, was met with violence and strong defiance in the South. The years after Brown, however, saw the passing of several important Acts: the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Fair Housing Act of 1968. Today, Americans remember Brown v. Board of Education as a success in African Americans’ struggle for equal rights, a change of sea tide for the civil rights movement. While

The case of brown v. board of education was one of the biggest turning points for African Americans to becoming accepted into white society at the time. Brown vs. Board of education to this day remains one of, if not the most important cases that African Americans have brought to the surface for the better of the United States. Brown v. Board of Education was not simply about children and education (Silent Covenants pg 11); it was about being equal in a society that claims African Americans were treated equal, when in fact they were definitely not. This case was the starting point for many Americans to realize that separate but equal did not work. The separate but equal label did not make sense either, the

In 1951 schools were separated by skin color, or segregated. The Brown v. Board of Education trial was brought to court because a third-grader, Linda Brown, was not allowed to attend the elementary school that was closest to her house. She wa required to take the bus to school across town instead. In the trial the point that “Education for Negroes is almost nonexistent(13).” This is an example of how there were old problems in the Fourteenth Amendment that needed to be changed. Another issue that was brought up in the trial was that, “Segregation… has a tendency to retard the educational and mental development of negro children…(19).” Without the proper education at segregated

Board of Education(1954) case were Linda Brown, Oliver Brown, Robert Carter, Harold Fatzer, Jack Greenberg, Thurgood Marshall, Frank D. Reeves, Charles Scott, and John Scott("Teaching with documents:," ). Linda lived not to far from a local African American school, but her father had other plans for her and wanted her to go to an all white school so that she could obtain a better education. She was denied the opportunity, so her father teamed up with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People(NAACP). The 14th Amendment was violated when she was denied the right to go to the all white school(Collins). The 14th Amendment says that a states have to give citizen equal protection under all circumstances. Brown v. Board of Education was not immediately ruled. This case ruling was deliberately thought through and started the trend of desegregating schools years later. In the opinion they believed that segregating the white and black students was the right thing to do. Students would be “offended or intimidated” if they had peers of a different race. That was their way of saying that she should not be allowed to attend the all white school in her community. This case had no had no dissenting opinion. By the case beginning combined to other similar case it was brought to the Supreme Court. They overruled “separate but equal” because of the previous case Plessy v. Ferguson because it violate the 14th amendment("Brown v. Board," 2012).

Brown vs. Board of Education (1954) was a landmark Supreme Court Case that overturned the separate but equal ideology established by the earlier Supreme Court Case Plessy vs. Ferguson (1896). The Plessy vs. Ferguson court case had a profound affect on the social interaction of racial groups in the late 19th to early 20th century causing tension between the two most prominent races within the United States, the Caucasians and the African Americans, which included Hispanics and other non-white citizens. The Supreme Court Case Brown vs. Board of Education eradicated legal racial discrimination given to the state government by the implementation of Jim Crow Law in schools and public settings leading to the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement which fought to put an end to the white supremacy and give all people especially those of color equal rights and protection under a court of law and in the eyes of government.

In the 1954 trial Brown v. Board of Ed the supreme court majority agreed that “separate but equal” was shown to be inherently unequal. When several cases of African American students being denied acceptance into schools arrose, life in public schools changed forever. In a decision that supported by the fourteenth amendment, the U.S. supreme court ruled against the segregation of schools and allowed African Americans to attend white schools.

Topeka, Kansas, 1950, a young African-American girl named Linda Brown had to walk a mile to get to her school, crossing a railroad switchyard. She lived seven blocks from an all white school. Linda’s father, Oliver, tried to enroll her into the all white school. The school denied her because of the color of her skin. Segregation was widespread throughout our nation. Blacks believed that the “separate but equal” saying was false. They felt that whites had more educational opportunities. Mr. Brown, along with the NAACP and many civic leaders, fought for equal educational rights for all races. Brown v. The Board of Education case and the events leading up to it had a positive effect on education and society.

Board of Education was a landmark case that overturned one of the most racist precedents of the late 19th century, Plessy vs. Ferguson (1896). It acknowledged the grave injustice done to black children in their unequal education compared to Whites and that it was illegal because of the “equal protection clause” of the 14th amendment. This was a victory for the Black community and was one step closer to the civil rights that the NAACP and other Black and African American activist groups had been fighting for. Desegregation, however, was a complicated process because of the reluctance of many state governments to comply. While the Federal government focused on the South to comply, the Northern states were left largely to their own devices. The shift of the courts to also focus on integration in the 1960s sparked white supremacist action that did not die down until the 1970s. In modern times, while segregation is illegal, it is rare to find schools that are integrated and segregation can still be found in legal ways. The separation of black and white communities leads to schools that can only reflect the areas that are zoned to them. The lack of success in busing children across town lines in order to integrate students together has sparked protest and it is rare that officials decide to try it again. So while Brown vs. Board of Education certainly was a landmark case that gave more fire to the building Civil Rights movement, it did not have any immediate effects in

Every morning, she had to walk 21 blocks to her all-black elementary school. (“Making History…” 1) This was already unfair since there was a better all white elementary school only 7 blocks away. This was because of Plessy v. Ferguson, a case from decades earlier, which made ‘separate but equal’ facilities legal. This allowed white Americans to discriminate, using the better schools, restaurants and even bathrooms. Most funding went to white people since there was very little black representation in the government. Not only was Linda unable to go to the closer school, yet the all-black school was much worse than the all-white school. Many school districts neglected their all-black schools, disobeying the Plessy v. Ferguson case of ‘separate but equal’. One case was especially unfair in Clarendon, South Carolina. Joseph De Laine Jr.’s school had “...10 teachers, almost 800 kids, and no indoor plumbing.” (“Making History…”1) Oliver Brown, Linda Brown’s dad, asked if his daughter could enroll in the closer all-white school since his daughter was walking so far to a worse school than the one near by. The principal refused and soon after, Brown ended up suing. (“Making History…”1) The case eventually ended up in Supreme court among many other controversial lawsuits in the country. This was a very important moment for minorities around the country as they had endured decades of unfair education. A black man was standing up made many people happy- and many people unhappy,

The legislature of the fictitious state of Xanadu passes a law that states "All people are welcome at all state-run swimming, beach and golf facilities, as long as they are white. Non-whites may not use any of those facilities."

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 (1954), was a landmark United States Supreme Court case in which the Court declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students to be unconstitutional. The decision overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896, which allowed state-sponsored segregation, insofar as it applied to public education. Handed down on May 17, 1954, the Warren Court 's unanimous (9–0) decision stated that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal." As a result, de jure racial segregation was ruled a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. This ruling paved the way for integration and was a major victory of the Civil Rights Movement.[1] However, the decision 's fourteen pages did not spell out any sort of method for ending racial segregation in schools, and the Court 's second decision in Brown II only ordered states to desegregate "with all deliberate speed".

The Brown V Board of Education case overturned provisions of the Plessy v Ferguson decision of 1896 which allowed “separate but equal” in all public areas including public schools. This case began a spark in the American Civil Rights Movement by demanding public facilities to allow African Americans the same privileges as whites. This case ended tolerance of racial segregation, however, the decision did not succeed in fully desegregating public education, but it definitely started a revolution. In addition to separate but equal, most facilities ignored the requirement, including most school districts which neglected their all black schools. In the early 1950s, NAACP lawyers brought class action lawsuits on behalf of black school students in multiple states including Virginia, Delaware, Kansas and South Carolina, seeking court orders to demand school districts to let black students attend white public schools. One of these class actions, Brown V Board of Education was filed against the Topeka Kansas school board by a man by the name of Oliver Brown, a parent of one of the students that was denied access to Topeka’s white schools. Oliver Brown claimed that Topeka’s racial segregation violated the constitution’s Equal Protection Clause which says “no state shall make or enforce any law which shall deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws”, this amendment did not include prohibiting integration. The federal district court dismissed his claim and ruled that segregation in public schools were “substantially equal enough”. The court negotiated and in the end decided that even if the facilities were equal between white and black schools, racial segregation in schools is “inherently unequal”, meaning it had been unconstitutional. The court later demanded the states to integrate their schools immediately. Brown v. Board of Education case had a major impact on not only the Civil Rights Movement but society as a whole. As we all know, segregation between black and whites has gone on forever. Generations continued to teach their children and explain to them that it was normal, up until these landmark cases began did it become known that it isn’t right to treat others differently based on

On May 17, 1954, the Brown v. Board of Education case, stated that segregation of public schools was a violation of the 14th Amendment and was therefore unconstitutional. More importantly, Earl Warren said, “the present was at issue, not the past. ”(The Court’s Decision). In the opinion of justice Warren, the Fourteenth Amendment was not originally intended to prohibit school segregation. In the 1860s, it was uncommon for children to go to school, let alone get an education.

In the 1950s in Topeka, Kansas Linda Brown, a young African-American girl, had to walk many blocks and by a railroad track just to receive an education. With an all-white school located near her home, because of her race, her family had to walk the extra miles compared to her white neighbors. When her father, Oliver Brown, tried to enroll her in the local school, Linda was refused admission because she was African-American. The Brown v. Board of Education was a justified Supreme Court case because every person has the right to an education and the color of one’s skin should not prevent that, it provided safety and convenience for people, it was an advancement to a more diversified and unified United States, and it overrode another Supreme Court case. Not only did the Brown v. Board of Education case attain to what is on the 14th amendment, it plays a factor in initiating the

First, the Supreme Court states that whites and African Americans were “separate, but equal”, though their treatment can prove otherwise. For instance, if they didn’t sit separately, they were arrested and fined (Source A). This is unfair; if people are equal, they should be allowed to choose where they sit, no matter their skin color. Furthermore, this act makes an effort to demean African Americans by limiting their rights. Some may think that segregation is right, but everything about it is wrong. To add, when some African American students tried to go to an all-white school, they were blocked and threatened (Source B). This shows