Brown V Board Of Education Research Paper

Brown v. Board of Education-Significant for Education and Civil Rights

John Ryan- History 407

There were many great moments in the civil rights movement, but none stands out more to me than the landmark case of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. As an Education major I understand that this case truly addressed the crippling effects of segregation and gave black learners the opportunity to pursue a truly equal education. The Brown case went all the way to the Supreme Court in 1954, where school segregation was determined to be against the United States Constitution (Court, 1954). The decision was unanimous, which gave some insight into the times and how they were changing to better address what was taking place in the hearts and minds

This is partially because it overturned Plessy v Ferguson, but also partially because it was such a significant milestone toward ensuring more equality for blacks and whites in not only schools, but in other aspects of life (Patterson, 2001). When their children were able to attend school together, it was even harder to desegregate the kids in other areas of school. Lunch counters, bathrooms, drinking fountains, housing, buses, and other places became more equal throughout the civil rights movement (Kasher, 2000). What many people don’t realize, is that civil rights were not just about black and white. They were also about boys/men and girls/women. On average, Black women tend to have less favorable outcomes than their White, non-Hispanic counterparts. Black women still face a stark wage gap and are less likely to work in higher-paid occupations. Raising the minimum wage, closing the wage gap, ensuring adequate working conditions and expanding opportunities for higher wage occupations would greatly impact the lives of Black women and their families (United States Department of Labor,

The sixty years before the Brown decision was made were heavy with segregation (Kluger, 1975; Patterson, 2001). The argument for desegregation was that the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution was being broken by segregating blacks and whites. That Amendment states that every person has to be allowed equal protection under the law (Kasher, 2000). When people who are black or white are treated differently than others who are of a different race, that violates the Constitution. If the schools and other facilities were completely and truly equal there would have been no violation, but that was not the case. The schools and other facilities that were offered to blacks were clearly substandard and that was why there was so much concern about violations of the rights of black people in the United States. The people who wanted their children in desegregated schools were fighting for the rights of their children and fighting to allow them to have a good education in a school that was close to