Brown V. Board Of Education Case Study

The United States Supreme Court made one of the most critical decisions in history when it came to Brown V. Board of Education case. This landmark decision highlights the U.S Supreme Court’s role in affecting changes in national and social policy (nps.gov). When people read or hear about this story, they most likely hear how a little girl by the name of Linda Brown had to walk several blocks to school, when there was a all white school closer by than the all black school she attended. The Brown v. Board of Education was originally called Oliver Brown et al v. Board of Education of Topeka. This case challenged a Kansas statute permitting cities of over 15,000 population to maintain separate schools for whites and blacks for grades one through

eight (hitstory.com). But all in reality this story is far more complex than what it seems.
Back than in the 1950s, most schools in the United States were racially segregated.

The case Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) was the nations’ deciding factor making racial discrimination legal. The courts ruled that segregation was not a constitutional violation as long as black and white facilities were equal to each other (612). However, black facilities were completely substandard when compared to white facilities. Even state funding for African American schools was substantially less than funding provided for white schools; while the white schools received new books and materials while the blacks got used materials. Civil rights groups began to challenge racial segregation cases. Inside these cases, the court required concrete aspects of segregated schools to be equal. It made several schools to immediately improve their black students’ schools (history.com). NAACP lawyers brought lawsuits on behalf of black children and their families seeking courts to force school districts to let black students attend the white public schools. It was cases from Kansas, Delaware, DC, South Carolina and Virginia that all challenged the constitutionality of racial segregation in public schools (nps.gov). But all those cases came into one big case Brown V. Board of Education of

Topeka.
In Delaware, black families where upset with the imbalanced conditions in the schools that were for the blacks. In the District of Columbia (DC), a guy by the name of Gardner Bishop tried to get eleven black students into the very new John Phillip Sousa Junior High School. In South Carolina, twenty parents had asked the county to provide buses for the blacks as they did for the whites. When their petitions were ignored, they then filed a lawsuit trying to challenge segregation. In Virginia, the students believe that the poor conditions that they were getting an education in were not equal to what the whites were getting. They had no gym, no teacher’s restrooms, no cafeteria, and they were housing all their overflow of students in an old school bus and three buildings covered in tar paper. The judges on the US District Court panel did not see anything wrong with the conditions. They did not think there was any harm or hurt done to either side black or white. The Board of Supervisors for Prince Edward County refused to appropriate any funds for the county school board for the years 1959-1964, effectively closing the public schools rather than integrate them (nps.gov). In Kansas, the case was initiated by members of the NAACP, and thirteen parents volunteered to participate. The parents took their children to the schools in their neighborhoods and tried to get them enrolled, but they were turned around. During that time in Topeka, Kansas there were four black schools and 18 white schools. Mr Thurgood Marshal argued the case before the Supreme Court for the plaintiffs. At that time the Supreme Court ruled that schools should be desegregated and that the “separate but equal” doctrine violated the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, which states that no citizen can be denied equal protection under the law (cnn.com). This went on for three years before the Supreme Court came to their decision. On May 17, 1954 the United States Supreme Court ruled that “separate educational facilities are inherently unequal;” as well as overturned the Plessy v Ferguson, Jim Crow laws and the separate but equal doctrine (cnn.com). This ruling helped shut down a lot of segregated classrooms in Kansas and twenty other states. Even though this decision was unanimous, but it did not come without a fight. Three years after the decision, President Eisenhower was forced to send Guard Troops to Little Rock, Arkansas High School to help stop black students from entering. Brown v. Board Education serves as a symbol of the progress made by the fearless efforts of the lawyers, parents, students, and community activists. Their battle to satisfy the American dream set in motion, sweeping changes that occurred throughout society. By the Supreme Courts decision it incredibly propel the social liberties development of the 1950s and 1960s and eventually prompted the abolishment of racial isolation in every public facilities and accommodations. This will forever be a landmark in history this kind of change took hope and courage. When the people that were involved in this decided to do this, they never knew how much history they would create. They were just people that wanted to be treated equally.