brown vs. board of education Essay Example

brown vs. board of education Essay Example brown vs. board of education Essay brown vs. board of education Essay The case that came to be known as Brown v. Board of Education was actually the name given to five separate cases that were heard by the U. S. Supreme Court concerning the issue of segregation in public schools. These cases were Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Briggs v. Elliot, Davis v. Board of Education of Prince Edward County (VA. ), Boiling v. Sharpe, and Gebhart v. Ethel. While the facts of each case are different, the main issue in each was the constitutionality of state-sponsored segregation in public schools. Once again, Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund handled these cases. Although it acknowledged some of the plaintiffs/plaintiffs claims, a three-judge panel at the U. S. District Court that heard the cases ruled in favor of the school boards. The plaintiffs then appealed to the U. S. Supreme Court. When the cases came before the Supreme Court in 1952, the Court consolidated all five cases under the name of Brown v. Board of Education. Marshall personally argued the case before the Court. Although he raised a variety of legal issues on appeal, the most common one was that separate school systems for lacks and whites were inherently unequal, and thus violate the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U. S. Constitution. Furthermore, relying on sociological tests, such as the one performed by social scientist Kenneth Clark, and other data, he also argued that segregated school systems had a tendency to make black children feel inferior to white children, and thus such a system should not be legally permissible. Meeting to decide the case, the Justices of the Supreme Court realized that they were deeply divided over the issues raised. While most anted to reverse Plessy and declare segregation in public schools to be unconstitutional, they had various reasons for doing so. Unable to come to a solution by June 1953 (the end of the Courts 1952-1953 term), the Court decided to rehear the case in December 1953. During the intervening months, however, Chief Justice Fred Vinson died and was replaced by Gov. Earl Warren of California. After the case was reheard in 1953, Chief Justice Warren was able to do something that his predecessor had not†i. . bring all of the Justices to agree to support a unanimous decision eclaring segregation in public schools unconstitutional. On May 14, 1954, he delivered the opinion of the Court, stating that We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of separate but equal has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.. E xpecting opposition to its ruling, especially in the southern states, the Supreme Court did not immediately try to give direction for the implementation of its ruling. Rather, it asked the attorney generals of all states with laws permitting segregation in their public schools to submit plans or how to proceed with desegregation. After still more hearings before the Court concerning the matter of desegregation, on May 31, 1955, the Justices handed down a plan for how it was to proceed; desegregation was to proceed with all deliberate speed. Although it would be many years before all segregated school systems were to be desegregated, Brown and Brown II (as the Courts plan for how to desegregate schools came to be called) were responsible for getting the process underway. Facts This case is a consolidation of several different cases from Kansas, South Carolina, Vlrglnla, ana Delaware. several DlacK cn llaren (tnrougn tnelr legal representatlves, Ps sought admission to public schools that required or permitted segregation based on race. The plaintiffs alleged that segregation was unconstitutional under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. In all but one case, a three Judge federal district court cited Plessy v. Ferguson in denying relief under the separate but equal doctrine. On appeal to the Supreme Court, the plaintiffs contended that segregated schools were not and could not be made equal and that they were herefore deprived of equal protection of the laws. Issue Is the race-based segregation of children into separate but equal public schools constitutional? Holding and Rule (Warren) No. The race-based segregation of children into separate but equal public schools violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and is unconstitutional. Segregation of children in the public schools solely on the basis of race denies to black children the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment, even though the physical facilities and other may be equal. Education in public schools is a right which must be made available to all on equal terms. The question presented in these cases must be determined not on the basis of conditions existing when the Fourteenth Amendment was adopted, but in the light of the role of public education in American life today. The separate but equal doctrine adopted in Plessy v. Ferguson, which applied to transportation, has no place in the field of public education. Separating black children from others solely because of their race generates a feeling of inferiority as to their status in the community that ay affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely ever to be undone. The impact of segregation is greater when it has the sanction of law. A sense of inferiority affects the motivation of a child to learn. Segregation with the sanction of law tends to impede the educational and mental development of black children and deprives them of some of the benefits they would receive in an integrated school system. Essay Brown v. Board of Education The case of brown v. board of education was one of the biggest turning points for African Americans to becoming accepted into white society at the time. Brown vs. Board of education to this day remains one of, if not the most important cases that African Americans have brought to the surface for the better of the United States. Brown v. Board of Education was not simply about children and education (Silent Covenants pg 1 1); it was about being equal in a society that claims African Americans were treated equal, when in fact they were definitely not. This case was the starting point for many Americans to realize that separate but equal did not work. The separate but equal label did not make sense either, the circumstances were clearly not separate but equal. Brown v. Board of Education brought this out, this case was the reason that blacks and whites no longer have separate restrooms and water fountains, this was the case that truly destroyed the saying separate but equal, Brown vs. Board of education truly made everyone equal. The case started in Topeka, Kansas, a black third-grader named Linda Brown had to walk one mile through a railroad switchyard to get to her black elementary school, even though a white elementary school was only seven blocks away. Lindas father, Oliver Brown, tried to enroll ner In tne wnlte elementary scnool seven DlocKs Trom ner nouse, out tne rincipal of the school refused simply because the child was black. Brown went to McKinley Burnett, the head of Topekas branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and asked for help (All Deliberate Speed pg 23). The NAACP was eager to assist the Browns, as it had long wanted to challenge segregation in public schools. The NAACP was looking for a case like this because they fgured if they could Just expose what had really been going on in separate but equal society that the circumstances really were not separate but equal.