Brown v. Board of Education
The Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court case consisted of 5 different court cases and many other laws passed during the time of Reconstruction. The most popular case was the case in Topeka, Kansas in 1954 which involved a young eight year old girl by the name of Linda Brown. She was forced to attend the all black school, which was roughly 21 blocks away from her house.(Infoplease) Originally her parents believed that she would be permitted to attend the school near their home however, this school was made with the intent of having only white children being enrolled. This lead to the parents of Linda Brown to filing a lawsuit against the Board of Education in Topeka, Kansas because they controlled the school for both white and black children.(Infoplease) The question brought forth to the Supreme Court during the Brown v. Board of Education case was, “Does segregation of children in public schools solely on
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The 14th amendment played a key role in the final verdict of the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court case because it forbids states from restricting basic rights of certain people. Which in turn meant that Blacks should be offered the same educational opportunities as Whites. During the rationalization of the case the court quoted the most significant case in Topeka, Kansas, “A sense of inferiority affects the motivation of a child to learn. Segregation with the sanction of law, therefore, has a tendency to [retard] the educational and mental development of negro children and to deprive them of some of the benefits they would receive in a racial[ly] integrated school….”(Infoplease) This played a key part in why the vote was unanimous, because the segregation of children by race in schools shouldn’t be ratified by the “separate but equal” court decision in the Plessy v. Ferguson case.(Civil