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
Because of a brave young girl and her father being bold enough to stand up for their rights by trying to apply the 14th Amendment this was all possible. “Linda Brown was born on February 20, 1942, in Topeka, Kansas. Because she was forced to travel a significant distance to elementary school due to racial segregation, her father was one of the plaintiffs in the case of Brown v. Board of Education, with the Supreme Court ruling in 1954 that school segregation was unlawful”("Linda Brown Biography," ). She was 8 years old at the time when all of this happened. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People(NAACP) worked along side with her and her father to seek justice for this case. People of color’s thoughts and feeling
A girl by the name of Linda Brown. Just as any school girl, loved being with her friends, and she loved her family. However, Linda’s black skin color restricted her from attending a school that was a few yards away, and forced her to walk miles to the nearest all black school. In outrage, the family fought for their daughter to attend a local white school. Why would she not be allowed to attend a school so close to home? The question became strong enough to begin a movement that would impact the nation.
On September 25, 1957 nine courageous children risked their lives to attend Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. Due to resistance by the state government and public hostility, federal troops were necessary to let nine African American children attend the school. Although the Supreme Courts Landmark 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education cut down racial segregation in public schools, it was the actions of these nine young kids of school integration that tested the strength of that decision.
This essay will be on the Segregation in Modern American Schools, how it affects the students, why it occurs, and the strides need to integrate. I picked this topic because I came from a town that was predominantly white. Therefore my school was predominantly white as well. I have always wondered if coming from this type of school has hindered my ability to interact with people of a different race, culture, or background. I also thought of how my education would have been different if I had been taught at a more diverse school. I would have learned more about other types of people not only from my teachers, but from my peers. I have always been interested in this topic and I think it affects more people than we think. Of course, it affects the students, but it also affects the teacher and the mass public. Culturally segregated schools are hindering learning environments. Black teachers teach at black schools, White teachers teach at white schools, so on and so forth with every race. The public is affected; because the schools in their area are not divers meaning their community is not diverse. Diversity is a catalyst for growth in all people. School and education is a great place to start the
She had to leave her home at 7:40 in the morning and walk through dangerous streets to a bus stop that drove her to school which started at 9 a.m. (Patterson 32). Her father, Oliver Brown, sued Topeka, Kansas and hired Thurgood Marshall as his lawyer. This is how the famous case of Brown v. Board of Education came to be. Marshall argued that segregation in schools should be outlawed because it is not fair to make them walk seven blocks when they could cross the street and go to school there. The Supreme Court voted in the student's favor on May 17, 1954 because they concurred that segregation in schools was unconstitutional and violated the fourteenth amendment (Patterson 54). At last, segregation was illegal under the Constitution and for a moment, people actually believed this. Although it was illegal, schools continued to be segregated and blacks were forced to attend subpar schools because they weren't accept anywhere else. The school principals were apathetic towards the new law, they wanted to run the school their way. In order to end this, the Little Rock Nine knew that they needed to stand up for their rights and make a change. The Little Rock Nine consisted of Carlotta Walls, Gloria Ray, Ernest Green, Jefferson Thomas, Thelma Mothershed, Terrence Roberts, Minnijean Brown, Melba Patillo, and Elizabeth Eckford (Fitzgerald 17). Little did they know that their bravery in walking up the steps of Central High School in Arkansas would mark an important event that would change history
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
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.
These problems that were being seen at young ages were not likely to go away with time because their learning had already been delayed. Furthermore, the supreme court saw segregation at schools as unconstitutional, “Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, case in which on May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously (9–0) that racial segregation in public schools violated the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which prohibits the states from denying equal protection of the laws to any person within their jurisdictions,”(Duignan). The education of the student was not the only thing being denied but also the chance to have protection in their own home. The supreme court agreed it was unconstitutional because idea of “Separate but equal,” set up by the Plessy vs. Ferguson court case was not at all being
On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that segregation in American public schools was unconstitutional in the Brown v. Board of Education decision. Until this decision, many states had mandatory segregation laws. Resistance to the new ruling was so widespread that the court issued a second decision in 1955 known as Brown II. The new law ordered school districts to integrate “with a deliberate speed”. Minnijean Brown, Elizabeth Eckford, Ernest Green, Thelma Mothershed, Melba Patillo, Gloria Ray, Terrance Roberts, Jefferson Thomas, and Carlotta Walls were recruited by Daisy Bates, who was President of the Arkansas NAACP. Daisy Bates and others from the NAACP worked with the nine students through counseling sessions and determined that
Board of Education decision was delivered in 1954. Oliver L. Brown first filed a suit against the Topeka Board of Education in 1951. He was upset because he attempted to enroll his daughter, Linda, at Sumner Elementary School, which was a white school, because it was only seven blocks away. However, because of the segregation laws in the South that required segregation in all public facilities, including schools, Linda Brown was forced to attend Monroe Elementary School. This school was four miles away from her home and she had to walk for an hour and twenty minutes before she reached her school (Urofsky 276). Oliver went to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) for help after Sumner Elementary turned him away. The NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund looked at this case and felt that they were ready to challenge legalized segregation. They reached the Supreme Court in 1953. The Supreme Court Justices finally delivered their decision on May 17, 1954 (Urofsky 281).
Despite the judgment from the court of Kansas, it would not hinder the NAACP’s movement with these cases. Brown and the NAACP appealed to the Supreme Court on October 1, 1951, and the other four cases that were being tried in lower courts at the same time would also be brought before the Supreme Court in October. The other cases challenging school segregation took place in Washington D.C., South Carolina, Virginia, and Delaware. All five cases that were going to be tried before the Supreme Court became known as the Oliver L. Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka.
Specifically, because of Oliver Brown, we all get to be treated fair and equal. He not only abolished the Jim Crow laws, but he was a big start to stopping segregation. He was the voice for the speechless kids having to walk miles and miles to go to school, and he was the voice for all the colored kids who did not receive the same education the whites. Mr. Brown did not just do it to help his own little girl, Linda Brown who had to walk a mile to get to school. He decided to fight for everyone. African Americans like Oliver Brown and other liberal white Americans attacked segregation in nearly every segment of American life and culture. Equal rights in education became linked with social justice. By the 1960s a full-scale Civil Rights Movement