Evans v. Newton (1966)

Evans v Newton Criticism Evans v. Newton (1966) The case discussed in the article represents a major event in the Civil Rights era. It essentially tested whether or not private lands could still enforce segregation practices. The case occurred when African-American citizens of Macon, Georgia sued the state in order to end segregation practices in a park that was given to the city by a testator.

The conflict occurred when the city resigned as a trustee on the park as a way to try to allow the private trustees to still enforce their own private form of segregation. However, the city has initially been given the park by the will, and thus the park in question was being debated in regards to whether it was a public institution, where segregation is illegal, or if it was a private entity separate from the city of Macon, Georgia.

After going through a number of smaller courts, there was eventually a Supreme Court decision in favor of ending the segregation in the park on the grounds that segregation itself was a breach of the Fourteenth Amendment, which was supposed to protect all citizens of being unfairly treated under the letter of the law.

Here, the case claims that "the public character of the park required that it be treated as a public institution subject to the command of the Fourteenth Amendment, regardless of who presently had title under state law" (Evans et al. v. Newton et al., 1966). There was a ruling that thus called the park public property and subject to the protection of the Fourteenth Amendment. In that respect, the park could not enforce segregation practices.

This effectively confirmed the sanctity and validity of the Fourteenth Amendment, which granted equal protection for all races under American law. Overall, this case was huge in regards for what it meant for ending segregation and bringing equality to all Americans, regardless of race. It is so interesting to see what lengths racist groups in the South would go to in order to try to still use segregation as a tool, despite changing legislation in favor of equality for all.

The efforts people put in to exclude races is disheartening, and it is no wonder why racial relations began to deteriorate during the Civil Rights era, not only in the South, but all across the nation. It was refreshing to see a case such as this one be won in favor of protecting equality and the basic civil rights of American citizens who had been denied them for so long.

It represents a crucial turning point in American legislation, where discrimination against minority groups was being continually looked down upon by legislative and social practices. Yet, there are some lingering questions after seriously investigating this court case. First of all, if this was such a major piece of Civil Rights court decisions, why is not more familiar within the public discourse. This is the.