Brown V. Board Of Education Case

Classic Case

In the following landmark case, the United States Supreme Court ruled state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students to be unconstitutional.

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483

FACTS During the 1950s in Topeka, KS, an African American man by the name of Oliver Brown had attempted to enroll his daughter in an all-white school, rather than an African-American school that was indeed further away, but more the norm at that time. However, shortly after enrolling his daughter in the school, he would soon find out she was denied admittance due to the color of her skin. Instead of doing what many parents had done before, which would be sending her to the school of color, he met with parents

Segregation in public schools in the early 1950’s was not an uncommon site. In fact, it was the norm across America, and although the schools educated African American and white students separately, the districts and their education plans were supposed to be equal. However, that was not the case, most black schools were far inferior to their white counterparts.

Somewhere along the way, with many parents struggling to find normalcy for themselves and their children in this situation, a father with a voice needing to be heard and a movement waiting to be started would soon take place. Brown V. Board of Education was the consolidation of four separate cases pertaining to the segregation of race in public schools. The similarities in each, involve African American students being denied admittance into public schools attended by white children under a law that allows for schools to segregate students based solely on race. The plaintiffs, in this case, argued that such separation violates the students Fourteenth Amendment rights. However, they were denied relief based on the precedent set by Plessy v. Ferguson, in which a “separate but equal” doctrine was established stating that states participating in the segregation of races in public schools were constitutional as long as the facilities were

It concluded that in the field of public education, the separate but equal doctrine had no place and that there was no way to make separate educational facilities entirely equal.

Although the ruling was set into place, the court did not give immediate direction as to how the desegregation would take place. It was not until about a year later that the Justices handed down a plan for how the ruling would need to be handled. They concluded that the desegregation of schools would proceed with “all deliberate speed”. Even then, it would be many years before desegregation would be seen across all school districts.

REFLECTION This case was hard for me to read due to my own beliefs surrounding equality for all American Citizens. Although I will say ultimately I am happy with the court’s decision to decide that segregation of public schools does indeed violate the students Fourteenth Amendment rights. I do understand that a lot of people involved in this case on both ends of the spectrum felt the outcome regarding this case should be clear as day, however, I can see how the decision could have taken a lot of research, praying, and evaluating the facts given from both parties. This was a time when segregation was somewhat of a normalcy or at least a reality to many