School Segregation and Integration

Do you know how school segregation happened? How did school integration happen? What events were involved? Who was involved? What were the effects? What even is segregation? What is integration? These are a few questions that are going to be answered in this article. Lets start of by talking about The Civil Rights Movement. The Civil Rights Movement is about the colored people wanting integration. Many events took place during this time period, and one of them is school segregation and integration.

Segregation means separate, while integration means to combine.

School segregation happened because whites did not allow colored people to use and have the same privileges as them. They usually gave the colored people run down and dirty places which were unsanitary. While they got the beautiful and clean places. Even though they did get places for schools and other things, their supplies were also bad. They wouldn’t have big enough areas for classes, and they were far away from many of the children's home.

They were not just segregated in schools, but in daily livings as well. They were segregated in bathrooms, jobs, seats, drinking, hospitals, and even being buried in a graveyard! This has a major effect on the coloreds life.

School integration happened thanks to many court cases such as Mendez vs. Westminster and Brown vs. Board of Ed. The case that has helped maintain segregation, is court case Plessy vs. Ferguson.

Plessy vs. Ferguson

Court case Plessy vs. Ferguson happened on May 18, 1896. This court case is related to Jim Crows laws. Colored and Whites would be seperate, but still equal. Judge John H. Ferguson carried out this law. Homer Plessy decided not give up his seat on purpose, and got arrested. This is why this court case is called Plessy vs. Ferguson.

On June 7 1892, Homer paid for his seat in first class, or so called “whites only” area. He was east of Louisiana on a railway when the trouble happened. He told the conductor that he was ? colored and decided not give up his seat. Homer was thrown in jail overnight and released with $500 fund. Homer decided to take his case to the supreme court, but they rejected him. He then decided to take his case to lower courts, but they just did not care or approve.

For those who still don’t understand Plessy vs. Ferguson, imagine that you got to go to a big beautiful school, but your best friend had to go a dirty and unsanitary place. But still, you would be considered equal. Makes no sense right? This is another way of saying that, segregation is equal. Thanks to many other court cases, we are all integrated in one school. What would you think and do if, segregation still happened in schools today? What if Jim Crows laws are still followed today?

Mendez Vs. Westminster

Court case Mendez vs. Westminster happened in 1947, in Orange County California. This court case was created by the help of a young girl named Sylvia and her family. Sylvia, her brothers, and her cousins were going to get enrolled into Westminster by their aunt, on September 1943. The problem was that Sylvia and her brothers were not allowed to attend Westminster because it was an all “white school.” They instead had to attend a “Mexican school.”

Sylvia’s father, Mr. Mendez, did not approve of this. He decided he needed a protest. With the help of David Marcus, a lawyer, they managed to help desegregate some schools. During the fight for their right, many families joined to help desegregate schools. The Ninth Circuit court carried out the case in Orange County and the school district showed the case.

It took over 3 years to get this approval! All those rough days finally paid off. After they had won their approval, Sylvia and her brothers were able to go to the white schools with many other children.

Day’s were still though for Sylvia at the white schools. Whites would make fun of her and make her wanna leave. Sylvia even told her mother once that she didn’t want to go to the school anymore. Her mother would not let her. After all they been through, she could never let her daughter do such a thing. Look at us now, all untied in one school, in one place, in one world.

Brown Vs. Board of Ed.

The court case Brown vs. Board of Ed. helped desegregate many schools. It was a way of showing that the end of segregation was near. All the hard work that the coloreds have down, lead down to this day. Many important people were evolved during cases, protests, and many other thing to help stop segregation. But do you know about the people that might not have been so famous like Sylvia or Rosa Parks? Well one of those people is Linda Brown.

On May 17 1954, Earl Warren ( supreme court chief ) presented court case Brown v. Board of Ed. Public school segregation was violating the 14th Amendment. The decision to present Brown vs. Board of Ed. put an end to “separate but equal” once and for all. This happened in Topeka, Kansas. On May 13 1955, Earl Warren had read the desision that the court had made. It is now referred to Brown II (2).

The reason this happened is because Linda Brown's father wanted to enroll his daughter to a school. The closest school near was 1 mile away, but it was a white school. Instead, he had to drive a long distance to get to a school for colored. He said NO. He wouldn’t enroll his daughter to a school so far away, when he could have just drove a mile. So he fought for his daughter, and many other children's right.

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