Brown V Board Of Education 1954

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas (1954), was a landmark case impacting the public school system with making segregation within the school system a violation against the law. It showed how separate but equal no longer made sense in America. Leading up to the groundbreaking court case, the country was divided by segregation. In the south, there were Jim Crow Laws and the white population tried to limit the power the African-American population had within the community. In the north there was a large migration of African Americans looking for a better life in the larger cities. Oliver Brown, Linda Brown’s father, wanted the best for his children and pushed for Brown v. Board of Education to be heard in the courts. As in any case,

The goal of the suit against the Board of Education was getting equal access to educational rights within the school system. Unable to enroll in the all white schools, due to their race, the family filed suit on February 28, 1951 against the Board of Education within Kansas Supreme Court. They lost the court case in the Kansas Court, but quickly appealed the case to the United States Supreme Court. When the case reached the U.S. Supreme Court, five cases were brought together to form Brown v Board of Education, “…Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Briggs v. Elliot, Davis v. Board of Education of Prince Edward Country (VA), Boiling v. Sharpe, and Gebhart v. Ethel… facts of each case are different, the main issue in each was the constitutionality of state-sponsored segregation in public schools” (U.S Court). Through the hearing, the subject of separate but equal was finally being

Ferguson or Brown v. Board of Education reached the Supreme Court, reconstruction after the Civil War ended and the ratified 14th and 15th Amendment, were needed to address the rights former slaves have. The 14th Amendment, adopted in 1870, “forbid the state and federal government from denying the right to vote based on race” (Cornell). The 15th Amendment, ratified in 1870, “stated the right to vote couldn’t be denied based on color, race or past servitude” (Cornell). Even with the new Amendments, African Americans were treated different than other Americans. When Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) cases reached the Supreme Court, the rights of the African American population took a step back. Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) decision formally introduced “Jim Crow” laws to the nation. The U.S. Supreme Court ultimately maintained that, “as long as equal facilities were provided to citizens, classification of individuals by race was neither a violation of the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause nor inhibitory of the Black community’s advancement” (Guthrie, 2004, p 7-8). For the era, which followed the Supreme Court ruling, African Americans struggled for an equal life in society and tried to gain rights. With the creation of the NAACP in 1909 it “became instrumental in advocating the rights of its minority constituency…” (Guthrie, 2004, page 8), the rights of African American were finally making