Brown V Board Of Education Case Study

Tim Sweeney
1950-2005 court cases
4/10/17
Brown v Board of Education- This started when a teacher named Mr. Brown thought about his opinion on Plessey v Ferguson. Brown v Board was made of 5 smaller cases. These cases were: Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Briggs v. Elliott, Davis v. Board of Education of Prince Edward County (VA.), Bolling v. Sharpe, and Gebhart v. Ethel. The whole idea of these cases was that black and white schools were violating the 14th amendment by being unequal.

Montgomery Bus Boycott- In Montgomery, 1955, blacks were forced to sit in the back of the bus. One day Rosa Parks, a true hero, said no when asked to move to the back of the bus. She was arrested and that is when the boycott started. African American Men and Women didn’t ride the bus for more than a year. They started a boycott team which was led by Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr., and many other people joined. The Supreme Court had to ratify the law because African Americans rode the bus a lot which made the bus business fail when they stopped riding. Everyday blacks rode bikes or walked.

Gideon v. Wainwright- Gideon was a kid that ran away from home when he was in middle school. He was charged for breaking and entering. He went to court without an attorney. He asked for a council because he could not pay for

Sullivan- The New York Times in 1960 had an ad for civil rights activists. They put on that page criticisms about what the police force does to the protestors of Montgomery, Alabama. There were a few statements in that ad that were false. The commissioner, Sullivan, was offended by this ad and sued the New York Times. Sullivan said in court that the ad ruined his reputation. The Alabama court ruled New York Times guilty. New York Times took this to the Supreme Court. They said NYT did not mean to offend Sullivan. The court ruled in favor of the New York Times. They had the right to publish it because it was protected under the 1st