Freedom Schools Case Study

FACTS: Linda Brown, an African American third grader applied for admission to an all-white public school, Sumner Elementary, in Topeka, Kansas and was refused by the board of education of Topeka. A class action lawsuit, represented by NAACP lawyers, was filed in 1951 in the United States District Court for the District of Kansas. This case consolidated the four other cases filed in separate states, all having in common African American children denied admission to segregated, all-white public schools based on race.

Board of Education” case. This case took place in 1954, in Topeka, Kansas. Linda Brown was a third grader, who had to walk a mile every day in order to get to her segregated school. She lived 7 blocks away from an all white school. Her father decided to put the schoolboard on trial. Linda’s parents were very well respected in their community. This shows this no matter what your character was in that time, court trials will go against you because of your skin color. The case became a class action suit, involving 5 states; therefore, reaching the supreme court. It was a major landmark in the reversing of the longtime of legal segregation. Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote on May 17th, 1954 that segregation “generates a feeling of inferiority as to their status in the community that may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely to be undone” (People & Events). The statement “separate educational facilities are inherently unequal” was a push for black rights movements. In the Tom Robinson case, even though he was found guilty, the jury had to think a little bit longer about his verdict. It was a step in the right direction, as the “Brown V Board of Education” trial was. Both trials focused around legal and internal racism. Brown V Board of education was more of a civil justice issue, while Tom Robinson’s case was based on false accusation. This situation is similar to Tom’s because both Linda and Tom were

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 U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas heard Brown's case from June 25-26, 1951. At the trial, the NAACP argued that segregated schools sent the message to black children that they were inferior to whites; therefore, the schools were inherently unequal. One of the expert witnesses, Dr. Hugh W. Speer, testified that "...if the colored children are denied the experience in school of associating with white children, who represent 90 percent of our national society in which these colored children must live, then the colored child's curriculum is being greatly curtailed. The Topeka curriculum or any school curriculum cannot be equal under segregation." (Brown v. Board of Education about the case" [online]). The Board of Education's defense was this, because segregation in Topeka and

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

The Brown v. Board of Education was a case that was initiated by members of the local NAACP (National association Advancement of Colored People) organization in Topeka, Kansas where thirteen parents volunteered to participate of the segregation during school. Parents took their children to schools in their neighborhoods in the summer of 1950 and attempted to enroll them for the upcoming school year. All students were refused admission and were forced to attend one of the four schools in the city for African Americans. For most parents and students, this involved traveling some distance from their homes. These parents filed suit against the Topeka Board of Education on behalf of their twenty children. Oliver Brown who was a minister, was the first parent to suit against the problem, so the case came to be named after his last name. Three local lawyers, Charles Bledsoe, Charles Scott and John Scott, were assisted by Robert Carter and Jack Greenberg from the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

Oliver Brown stood as the representative plaintiff in the case Brown vs. Borad of Education. He felt so strong about segregated shools, becuase his daughter was denied entrance of a whiteschool located in Topeka Kasas. Although many people dealt with the

In 1954, the Supreme Court of the United States was confronted with the controversial Brown v. Board of Education case that challenged segregation in public education. Brown v. Board of Education was a landmark Supreme Court case because it called into question the morality and legality of racial segregation in public schools, a long-standing tradition in the Jim Crow South, and threatened to have monumental and everlasting implications for blacks and whites in America. The Brown v. Board of Education case is often noted for initiating racial integration and launching the civil rights movement. In 1951, Oliver L. Brown, his wife Darlene, and eleven other African American parents filed a class-action lawsuit against the Board of Education

In 1945, the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka was brought to the Supreme Court. Thurgood Marshall, the lawyer who represented the African Americans, won the case. The Supreme Court ruled that segregation in schools was unconstitutional. Although these decisions were established, some schools in the South still did not allow African Americans into their schools. A plan was made by the Little Rock, Arkansas school board to gradually integrate the schools (2, page 1). There were two pro-segregation groups that assembled to protest against the plan. These groups were the Capital Citizens Council and the Mother’s League of Central High School. Even though this opposition took place, nine African American students registered at the Arkansas Central High School for the very first time in

As a justice, Earl Warren's rulings overturned many laws and expanded individual rights. A significant court case Warren dealt with was Brown vs Board of Ed. It involved a girl named Linda Brown who had to walk through dangerous pathways to get to her all-black elementary school. She could not go to an elementary school five minutes away from her house because it was segregated. Brown’s family took the case to court and declared that the segregation of schools, was a violation of their 14th amendment. In his decision, Earl Warren decided that separate educational facilities are inherently unequal and not just in society. He overturned a

Brown vs. Board of Education will celebrate its 62nd anniversary on May 17, 2016. Brown vs. Board of Education was the result of a series of appeals presented to the Supreme Court at about the same time other court cases around the United States dealt with the same issues of equal rights of what was taught in the schools, how it was taught, and bussing of students (“What Was Brown...”). Thurgood Marshall, chief attorney for Brown who later became a Supreme Court Justice, stood before the Supreme Court of the United States and presented a case against the gross inequities and in justice of segregation in the schools of America. Over half of a century ago, the United States Supreme Court ruled that segregation is unequal and unconstitutional. Chief Justice Earl Warren when delivering the decision of the court stated:

Public schools across our nation, up until 1954 were all segregated schools, meaning that whites had their own campus and blacks had another campus. With the ruling decision of Brown vs. Board of education, it established that separate was not equal, and African Americans were being deprived of an equal opportunity at an education. Prior to Brown vs. Board of Education, there were five other cases that were heard by the Supreme Court. These other cases were: Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Briggs v. Elliot, Davis

Things did not get better for African Americans until the case of Brown VS the Kansas Board of Education in 1954. Oliver Brown was the father of Linda, a little girl who had to walk six miles every day to get to the school for black children. Working for the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), thirteen parents volunteered to enroll their children in White schools. Each enrollment request was denied. With Brown as the leading plaintiff, they used these instances of segregation to make a case against the Kansas Board of Education. The federal court ruled that Separate but Equal was substantially constitutional. Unhappy with this ruling, Brown appealed to the Supreme Court. Chief Justice Earl Warren ruled that every case of segregation proved that the Jim Crow laws go against the fourteenth amendment. Although the fourteenth amendment does not specifically state that

Education was one of things that every parent wanted for their children regardless of whatever situation they were in. Public schools were segregated. In 1954 there was a lawsuit that ended legal segregation in public schools known as Brown V. Board of Education. In the fall of 1950, the NAACP sued on behalf of third-grader Linda Brown of Topeka, Kansas (Gates, 2013, p.323). Brown’s parents lived near a white school and wanted their daughter to attend that school because it was closer to their home than any other school that was around them. Thurgood Marshall was one of the lawyers for the NAACP during the time and argued that segregation condemns children, thinking that they lower than the whites that the Court had supposedly threw out in the Plessy case. The Court also heard from other families that were going through the same situation as Brown. May 17th, 1954, the Court ruled in favor of the black students. This decision allowed blacks to attend any public school that they

This was until the Oliver Brown case; Oliver Brown had enough of sending his daughter an unnecessary distance to attend a Black School, when there was a White School nearby. He decided to take his case to the Supreme Court, with the help of his Black lawyer, Thurgood Marshall and the added support of the NAACP group, his case was a success. The fact that his case was lead by a black lawyer was unusual making the success even more celebratory. In 1954, segregated schools were declared to be illegal by the Supreme Court. With the new Supreme Court ruling many states gradually integrated their schools, giving Black Americans a better chance at a substantial education.