Separate But Not Equal: The Brown v. Board Decision In 1954, racial tensions in the United States were reaching an all-time high. Constantly facing harassment by police officers, living segregated lives with Jim Crow laws, and being offered an overall inferior quality of life, Black Americans were sick of unequal treatment. The Supreme Court ruling in favor of Oliver Brown, an African-American whose child was denied admittance to a Kansas public school, over the the Topeka Board of Education, was a significant change in the history of the United States. The Brown vs. Board of Education ruling was a major turning point in American history because it recognized the unequal treatment of African-Americans in the education system, led to the beginning …show more content…
Prior to the Brown decision, Black Americans were forced to attend segregated schools. African-American students at these segregated schools received a lower quality education compared to the Whites because of the lack of funding allotted to black schools in comparison with White schools. Also, social scientists found that Black students at segregated schools received a lesser education because “a sense of inferiority affects the motivation of a child to learn.” This sense of inferiority allowed Whites more opportunities than African-Americans and gave them more chances to excel in society, which was displayed through the poor treatment of Blacks and the significant social class difference between the Blacks and the Whites. Since the 14th Amendment promised equal treatment for all, the Supreme Court found segregating schools unlawful because they “insured that African Americans would have an inferior education that would handicap their ability to function in American society.” This unlawfulness led to the Supreme Court's unanimous ruling in favor of Brown and called for the desegregation of all public