Plessy V. Private Schools Case Brief

Pierce v. Society of the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and, 268 U.S. 510 (1925)

Historical Setting In 1852 the state of Massachusetts passed the Compulsory Education Act that required children between the ages of eight and sixteen to attend public school for a specific length of time during the year. There were a few exceptions to this rule, one of which was that students could attend private school instead of public school if the parents so choose. In 1922 the state of Oregon amended this Act removing the private school exception, essentially forcing all children to start attending public school. This act was supported by groups like the Klu Klux Klan who liked the idea of an educational system teaching a common culture (Ryan, 2004).

In 1892, an African American man, Homer Plessy was arrested for refusing to give up his seat on a bus to a white man. Plessy sued on behalf of the Fourteenth Amendment’s equal protection clause but lost the case. In a landmark decision his case, Plessy v. Ferguson, became famous for upholding the separate but equal clause. In 1954 Linda Brown, and other African American children were told that they could not attend local segregated schools because they were black. Like Plessy v. Ferguson they sued on behalf of the Fourteenth Amendment stating that it violated the equal protection clause. The case was first heard at the District Court and then at the U.S. Supreme Court.

Summary

The suit was filed against the Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas in 1951. The plaintiff was Oliver Brown and the parents of African American children who wanted to attend segregated white schools in the Topeka school district. They claimed that their rights under the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment were being violated, and they sued to be able to attend those schools. It was also agued that segregation was harmful to the mentality of African-American children. They were being made to feel inferior by being forced to attend segregated schools.

Supreme Court, and was heard by Chief Justice Earl Warren. The Court found in favor of the plaintiffs and upheld the Fourteenth Amendment equal protection clause stating that “in the field of public education, the doctrine of "separate but equal" has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal” (Brown v. Board of Education, 1954). The Judges also agreed with the argument that segregated schools were detrimental to the mentality of African American children stating that "to separate them from others of similar age and qualifications solely because of their race generates a feeling of inferiority as to their status in the community that may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely to ever be undone” (Brown v. Board of Education,