Brown+vs.+Board+of+Education

Brown v. Board of Education was the 1954 case that established that “separate but equal” schools were unconstitutional. The case reversed previous decisions which made it legal to have separate facilities so long as they were equal. It was deemed unconstitutional under the Equal Protection Clause by the Supreme Court.
 * Brown v. Board of Education **

**Table of Contents**

 * 1) Early Segregation
 * 2) Case Background
 * 3) Supreme Court Decision
 * 4) Impact of Brown v. Board of Education
 * 5) Analysis

** Early Segregation **
Prior to the 50s, there was a lot of tension over racial segregation in public schools. The United States had faced a long history of segregation after the Civil War. A previous case, the Plessy v. Ferguson case of 1896, had upheld “separate but equal” facilities on railroads after Homer Plessy, a mixed man, boarded a White’s only train. The case paved the way for many other cases separating Blacks and Whites. The doctrine established in Plessy lasted for over five decades. Educational separation differed in each state. Some states required it, some had no legislation on it, some limited it, while others prohibited it completely.

**Case Background**
In 1951, the parents of 17 African American children from Topeka, Kansas sued the Board of Education in their city. The plaintiffs declared that the supposedly equal facilities were, in fact, not equal and were inferior in many ways. They claimed that by having segregated schools, they were being denied equal protection under the law. Most of these parents wanted their children to attend White schools that were conveniently close to their neighborhood. Oliver Brown was the parent of, Linda Brown, one of the schoolchildren. The case was initiated by the National Association for Colored People. Originally, the District Court ruled against Brown and the other twelve plaintiffs on the basis of Plessy v. Ferguson, but the case was taken to the Supreme Court. Earl Warren was the Chief Justice presiding over the case along with eight other associate judges. Thurgood Marshall, a lawyer and NAACP member, argued the case. The trial consisted of several other similar cases including another famous case, Briggs v. Elliot.

**Supreme Court Decision (1954)**
The case was heard twice, once in the spring and again in the fall of 1953. The fall trial focused mainly on the Fourteenth Amendment. The case relied heavily on social science more than actual evidence. Marshall and the plaintiffs claimed that it didn’t matter whether or not facilities and services offered to blacks were equal. Segregation was still injurious to African Americans because it made them feel inferior to their White counterparts which impaired their motivation to learn. Even if the facilities were equal, which they weren’t, any law based on racial inferiority must mean they were, in fact, unequal. This was the first Civil Rights case to go that in depth on individual feelings and relationships to society. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs with a unanimous vote of nine to zero. Many people attribute this victory to NAACP lead counsel member, Thurgood Marshall, for his superior legal tactics while others argue that he only made matters worse during the trial. According to those present during the proceedings, he became distraught when asked questions by the justices, especially Robert Jackson. However, Thurgood managed to redeem himself in the end by appealing to the morals and common sense of the justices rather than legal analysis and ending with highly informal words. They also had the backing of the Chief Justice who wanted a unanimous decision in favor of the plaintiffs.

**Impact of Brown v. Board of Education**
Even with the law on their side, change was slow to come. The case stirred up much opposition to Black civil rights. Those who were against segregation declared that blacks were challenging White superiority way too directly. Many states blatantly refused to segregate. Local law enforcement officials were reluctant to enforce segregation. President Eisenhower put little to no effort in trying to enforce these new sanctions on the states. He believed the ruling violated states’ rights. Without the backing of the president, it was hard to find proper enforcement techniques for desegregation. However, the case eventually helped lead the way to widespread collective protest against segregation. It was the beginning of integration and civil rights movement.

**Analysis**
Brown vs. Board of Education is known to be one of the most significant rulings in shaping the structure of the United States. The Brown victory represented huge progress after years of both de jure and de facto segregation. Prior to Brown, segregation was prevalent almost everywhere including housing. The social implications and results of Brown affected the U.S. throughout the 50s to the present.

There were many factors that contributed to the decision made in Brown vs. Board of Education. The case took place during the mid-1950s, around the same time as when another phase of the civil rights movement was just starting. Many people were strongly in favor of outlawing discrimination and they wanted equality in voting. Nonviolent protests were common during the time period. Even acts of civil disobedience were popular. People often went on boycotts or marches when they felt they were being discriminated against. For example, the first group protest of the Civil Rights Movement took place in April of 1951 by Barbra Johns who staged a walk-out demonstration against the conditions in her segregated school. All 451 students participated in this demonstration. Black civil rights leaders such as Martin Luther, James Leonard, and Rosa Parks had a huge gathering of supporters behind them. When Parks refused to leave her seat for a White person and was arrested, it sparked much unrest in the black community and initiated the Montgomery Bus Boycott. The Supreme Court ruled segregation in public transit systems unconstitutional, during the Browder vs. Gale case, when they began to suffer from African Americans boycotting them. Numerous equal rights organizations were founded in the 50s. Whites were also beginning to change their racial views. Although not all of them fully accepted Blacks, many also didn’t believe it was constitutional to discriminate against them. Racism just wasn’t as strong as it had been in previous decades.

However, defiance was widespread and immediate after the Brown decision. Few schools were ready to desegregate. Orval Faubus, who governed Arkansas, went to extreme lengths to deploy the National Guard in order to prevent the first black students from attending Little Rock Central High School. The schools refusal to adhere to the new laws concerning segregation led the president to call out the 101st Airborne Division and to federalize the National Guard. Few presidents before him had gone through such extreme lengths to enforce desegregation in public schools. In fact, some presidents were even against enforced desegregation and others even promoted segregation. As soon as President Woodrow Wilson became president in 1913, he segregated federal facilities in Washington D.C. It wasn’t until later on in history that it became necessary for presidents to support civil war movements. This was a great stride in African Rights since President Lincoln helped abolish slavery on with the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. After Eisenhower, it became more of a duty for following presidents to grant and preserve equal rights in all public facilities. It would have been difficult, if not impossible, to reverse the ruling of Brown. It was only one of the first decisions among a series of them to end de jure segregation. Other legislations such as, the Civil Rights Acts of 1968 and 1974 would eventually passed to prevent segregation and racial discrimination in the government, public places, and housing.

The Brown decision contributed to “White flight” as many Whites fled inner cities for lily white suburbs. In areas with forced busing, where students were taken to areas outside of their neighborhood in order to achieve racial desegregation, many families simply moved out. They would even go as far as to move across the country. There was little the courts could have done to prevent this at the time. If people wanted to leave the city, then it was practically impossible to stop them. Any regulations they passed to prevent people from leaving would, quite frankly, have been overly excessive and could easily have been evaded.In conclusion, the case signified a new shift in integration between White and Blacks. Brown forced people to face the reality of the inequality of the “separate but equal” doctrine. Now, in the present, special care is taken to make sure that people of all races and backgrounds get the proper education they need. School districts are constantly faced with new challenges to integrate.

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