“Separate but equal” is what education was said to be in Topeka, Kansas in 1954. It was separate, but was it really equal? In Topeka, black children were forced to walk twenty-one blocks to school when there was one right around the corner, but it was a school for white children only. This caused many issues among the community of Topeka and even caused a Supreme Court case between Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka. Oliver Brown was the parent of a child at a black only school. His daughter Linda Brown had to walk one mile through a railroad switchyard to get to her African American elementary school. Oliver Brown, her father, tried to enroll her in the white elementary school close to her house, but the principal said no. So, Oliver Brown went to McKinley Burnett who was in charge of the National association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) for help. The NAACP helped the Browns challenge segregation in the public schools. Brown claimed that Topeka’s school racial segregation violated the 14th Amendment and the Equal Protection Clause because the city’s black and white schools were not equal, and they never would be. The Equal Protection Clause is part of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. The clause says …show more content…
Ferguson case of 1896. According to McBride (2006) “segregated public facilities were constitution so long as the black and white facilities were equal to each other.” This made “separate but equal” constitutional. Oliver Brown claimed that the city’s black and white schools were not equal to each other and never would be. Brown was able to get the public’s help when other parents of African Americans joined the cause. Some white people were in favor of the When the Federal Court dismissed Brown’s claim about schools being equal, Brown appealed to the Supreme Court. It ultimately lead to a review of all the school segregation acts