African American School Segregation

Brown Did Not Help the Economic Problems of African Americans

Justice Earl Warren fought tirelessly to have a unanimous Supreme Court decision in the case of Brown v. Board of Education. The justices knew this would be a landmark case (Urofsky, Seminar). While Brown was a step in the right direction, not only did it not solve the problem of school segregation, but it did not solve the root of the Jim Crow laws. By ruling on segregation specifically in education and not addressing the economic issues that plagued African Americans, Brown did not have the positive effect on race relations in the south that it could have.

Brown did not solve the problem of school segregation. In fact, President Eisenhower believed it may have made it worse.

They were deemed as inferior beings and were handled as such. These practices were indoctrinated in the everyday lives of all people of the south. The lifestyle was deemed natural and normal. Many whites were oblivious that there was even a problem with race relations. Many southern whites believed their states and people had an appropriate and evolving relationship within the races. This can be seen in “The Southern Manifesto”. Southern senators did not feel there was a problem in race relations in the south. The senators deemed the Supreme Court decision would “destroy the amicable relations between the white and Negro races that have been created through 90 years of patient effort by the good people of both races” (United States. Cong.). The white southerners obviously did not experience the conditions in the south the same way their African American counterparts did. To honestly believe that the relationship was amicable is ridiculous. The connection had evolved from master and slave, however the treatment and opportunities for African Americans were not immensely better. The Senators of the south wrote this as other government officials were finding loopholes. One such loophole was simply shutting down the white public schools and opening private schools. Schools with Southern Baptist in their name usually became private to keep blacks out as the private sector did not have to abide by

While Eisenhower did send the National Guard into Little Rock, Arkansas, he did so begrudgingly after the state court refused to enforce the federal court’s ruling. It may not have come to the use of troops if he had used his experience with African American soldiers to loudly voice his acceptance of this decision. President Eisenhower was a popular president, and possibly could have used his influence to further generate acceptance of the Supreme Court decision. He also could have encouraged Congress to act in making legislation, or enforced the ruling as Chief Executive. Instead he insisted that he was foolish in appointing Earl Warren to the Supreme Court Justice. As soon as President Johnson refused to give federal money to segregated schools, the schools opened up very quickly. Eisenhower should have enforced that during his presidency. Had he chosen his words and actions more carefully, the country may not have been in such upheaval in the late 1950s and 1960s. (Urofsky, Seminar)

The Supreme Court decision did not get at the root of the racial problem brought on by the Jim Crow laws. The decision simply desegregated the south, albeit very slowly and with a new resurgence of violence. It did not give blacks better jobs nor economic advancements that would allow them to dig out of poverty, it did not give them protection from only being hired in certain low-paying, hard-working jobs, and it did nothing to protect them