Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka

In Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) the United States Supreme Court upheld racial segregation of passengers in railroad coaches as required by Louisiana law. Three years later the Supreme Court was asked to review its first school case dealing with equal treatment of school children. In Cumming v. Richmond County Board of Education (1899) the court found that the temporary cessation of services for minority high-school children did not violate equal protection even though services continued at the high-school for Caucasian children. The Court reasoned that the closing of the school was based on economic considerations, and was not found to represent bad faith or an abuse of discretion. The court concluded that although all must share the burdens and receive the benefits of taxation, school finance was a matter belonging to the states and federal interference without a clear and unmistakable disregard for constitutional rights would be inappropriate (Cambron-McCabe, McCarthy, and Thomas).

Brown v. Board of Education began in 1951 when Linda Brown's father, Oliver, and thirteen other parents tried to enroll their children in the local white schools in the summer of 1950 but were turned down because they were African-Americans and told they must attend one of the four schools in the city for African-American children. At the time of the lawsuit there was a disparity in the resources allotted to the schools in the city; for every $150 dollars spent on students in white school only $50 dollars were spent on black pupils. Furthermore, there was a disparity in access to the most current textbooks, not enough school supplies and overcrowding in the schools provided for African-Americans.

Subsequent to the children being refused admittance to the white schools the parents went to the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) for help. The NAACP hired lawyers to represent the families in court, however, the state court upheld the District's right to provide separate but equal schools, citing the case of Plessy v. Ferguson. After losing this case the lawyers for the NAACP decided to appeal to the United States Supreme Court which began hearing arguments on December 9, 1952 ("Brown v. Board of Education").

Brown v. Board of Education

In 1954 the Supreme Court combined cases from four states, Kansas, South Carolina, Virginia, and Delaware, to consider the separate but equal standard once again. 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. Though these cases differed regarding conditions and facts, each case involved minority children seeking assistance from the court under the Fourteenth Amendment to obtain entrance into public schools on a non-segregated basis (Cambron-McCabe, McCarthy, and Thomas).

Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund handled these cases. 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 blacks 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 ("Brown v. Board of Education - 1954,1955").

When the Justices met to decide the case they realized that they were deeply divided over the issues raised. While most wanted to reverse Plessy v. Ferguson, and declare segregation in public schools to be unconstitutional, they differed as to their reasons for doing so. Unable to come to a solution by the end of the Court's 1952-1953 term in June, the Court decided to rehear the case in December 1953. During the intervening months 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; bring all of the Justices to agree to support a unanimous decision declaring 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. . ." ("Brown v. Board of Education - 1954,1955").

The Supreme Court, expecting opposition to its ruling, especially in the southern states, did not immediately try to give direction for the implementation of its ruling. It asked the attorney generals of all states with laws permitting segregation in their public schools to submit plans for 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 ("Brown v. Board of Education - 1954,1955").

Discussion

Thomas Jefferson was a champion of universal education for all citizens, but in the culture in which he wrote, black slaves were not considered citizens. Jefferson saw the institution of slavery as an evil, even though he continued the practice of slave ownership. Jefferson's own contradictory actions toward his slaves were symbolic of the paradox that would describe race relations and equality in education for African-Americans. The nation would have to suffer through a bloody civil war and over one hundred years of racial strife to arrive at a time when a more equitable education could be available to all Americans. (PBS).

Brown v Board of Education set the foundation for the civil rights movement and gave African-American's hope that "separate, but equal" on all fronts would be changed. This ruling signaled the end of segregation in the United States of public places that is mandated by law. However, the nation soon discovered that Congress and the Courts were unable to legislate changes in the attitudes of Americans in respect to race relations.