Racial Segregation and American Education

Brown vs. Board of Education took place in 1954, during the civil rights movement and was by far one of the most important events that took place during that era. Brown v. Board of Education sparked a change in the world for equality, it fought to change the racial segregation of public schools during that time period. The NAACP ( National association for the advancement of colored people) was working hard to defend people in states such as South Carolina, Virginia, Delaware, etc.

The most famous party involved in this case is Oliver Brown, who filed a suit against the Board of Education in Topeka, Kansas in 1951 in defense of his daughter, Linda Brown, Brown had been denied entrance to Topeka’s all white elementary schools because of her race. Linda Brown and many other children live just a few blocks away from the all white schools that they were denied entry to, most children had to walk or take buses to get to schools on the other side of town because they were African American.

When Brown made a statement in defense of his daughter he said that schools for black children were not equal to the white schools, even though they were stated to be and that the racial segregation in public schools violates the fourteenth amendment which said that ” no state can deny any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of laws.” Before this case was taken to the Supreme Court, it was taken to the U.S. district court in Kansas, there they agreed that racial segregation for school purposes had a harmful effect on the colored children, but still deemed the “separate but equal” doctrine to be true. This case was placed with four others related to racial education segregation and presented to the Supreme Court in 1952 combined into a single case under the name “Brown v. Board of Education Topeka”.

In this case they argued whether or not congress had public school racial segregation in mind when creating the 14th amendment or if it was actually going against the fourteenth amendment. The issue with the racial segregation in public schools was that by the fourteenth amendment it was unconstitutional to have separate schools even if they are seen as equal, when other black families heard of what a fight the Browns were putting up they joined in on the case and the Brown’s finally got the support to take the case to the Supreme Court, when they agreed to hear it on May 17th, 1954. The issue in Brown v. Board of Education is racially segregating schools is wrong because they were not equal even though they were said to be but even more wrong because it goes against the fourteenth amendment, even if that’s not what congress had in mind when writing it. Public education is essential to an American life, it is not only necessary but it helps our children grow and later advance in their careers and help them to be more present in their community as they grow older.

In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education was ruled in favor of Mr. Brown and Linda Brown. The court believed that practicing racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional even if they were said to be equal, considering that most people agreed most children would not be able to succeed without a source of good education. When children were racially segregated it created the idea that African American children were seen at a lower status in the community compared to the white children. The Supreme Court concluded, “separate education facilities are inherently unequal, and that, the segregation of public education denied African American children the equal protection of the laws guaranteed to them by the Fourteenth Amendment.”.

On May 17th, 1954, the Supreme Court justice, Earl Warren delivered the ruling on the Brown v. Board of Education court case, state racial segregation of public schools was deemed unconstitutional by violation of the fourteenth amendment. This major decision marked the end of “the separate but equal” statement set by the Supreme Court in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896 and set the stage for civil rights to expand for the rest of the 1950’s. After Brown v. Board of education was deemed unconstitutional, African Americans all over the country began to enroll their children in public schools that they were previously not allowed to enroll into. Because of this case, people are no longer scared to fight for what they want or believe in, Without this landmark court case schools might have still been racially segregated , buses might have been racially segregated, restaurants, so much more could have been unequal that we have never experienced. Before Brown vs. board of education, about only one in 40 African-Americans earned a college degree, now more than one in five hold African Americans hold a college degree.

The unanimous decision made in 1954 had a huge impact on American history and changed America forever. In my opinion, the Supreme Court chose the right ruling in this case, this changed America for the better and started to allow people to fight for themselves, without this being deemed unconstitutional who knows how different the world would be today. Without Rosa parks refusing to give up her seat on the bus, Montgomery bus boycotts starting, Martin Luther King Jr giving his speech , lunch counters in Greensboro were desegregated, along with many other brace people, all this all still could be the same without Brown v. Board of Education. There have been no social or political changes made in the 20th century that have had such a long lasting impact on the United States as Brown vs. board of education did. The decision of Brown vs. board of education not only made people want to fight back but also led too changes for civil rights being made all around the world.

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