The Supreme Court decision in 1954 called Brown v. Board of Education did not immediately create integrated schools and classrooms in America. Segregated schools still existed several years after the Brown decision. But eventually, though it was a struggle, the courts provided ways in which school districts could integrate their schools so black and white children could study and learn together, in equal schools. "Separate but Equal" schools were unfair and discriminatory and had to be changed.
Brown v. Board of Education
In the opinion of this paper, there is no doubt at all that the U.S. Supreme Court decision in May, 1954 -- Brown v. Board of Education -- changed the nation in a very positive way. And it changed the nation not just in the sense of setting the wheels in motion to end school segregation, but by bringing justice to one segment of the American population that was ultimately a positive for the whole nation. Brown v. Board of Education was a confirmation that the U.S. Constitution was still the guiding democratic principle -- that it had not been permanently abandoned in the south by the cruel racist policies during the Jim Crow era. This paper reviews and critiques the Brown v. Board of Education (referred to in this paper as just "Brown") decision, the reactions to Brown, the resistance to Brown, and ultimately the positives that resulted from Brown.
Reasons why Brown v. Board of Education Brought Positives to the Nation
A personal essay by Dr. William B. Harvey presents a first-hand account of what it was like to be an African-American boy growing up in North Carolina in the 1950s. Actually, Harvey was 6 years old when Brown was ruled on by the High Court. At six years of age, Harvey was "…keenly aware of segregation and what it meant" as he attended a racially segregated elementary school (Harvey, 2005). "Segregation was mean and ugly and humiliating. It was a state of affairs that made you know your place and that kept you in your place." If you happened to be black, "…your place was at the bottom," Harvey remembered on page 43. He recalls having textbooks that had been used by white students but given to the black segregated schools "…when [the white] schools received new ones" (45).
Harvey writes that he had an "epiphany of sorts" on a field trip in North Carolina. The University of North Carolina planetarium in Chapel Hill allowed "…the little colored children of the state" to visit one day a month, and he was fascinated with the "…astrological phenomena" and was "quite taken" by the exploration of the cosmos by huge telescopes (44). While walking across campus, back to the school bus "…it occurred to me that I could not be a student at this wonderful institution, which was supported by taxes paid by my parents" (44). He was given to wonder what the "…learned professors were saying to their students" in classes like history, ethics, and political science, about "…the incredible duality that existed outside the windows of the classroom" (44). What Harvey saw during the period of segregated schools -- even after Brown became law -- was a nation that "…provided liberty and justice for some" (44).
Brown v. Board of Education was Sabotaged at the Outset
Just because the High Court ruled that "separate but equal" was not constitutional when it comes to education doesn't mean that southern states would obey the federal law. In fact the response was anything but cooperative; it was quite the contrary, in fact. Congress and the president were "…unenthusiastic about implementing the decision," according to Michael J. Klarman, the James Monroe Professor of Law and Professor of History at the University of Virginia.
How would Brown be enforced? That was one of the big questions; meanwhile the "…white South declared war on the Court, nullified Brown, and deployed state troops and encouraged vigilante mobs to block the enforcement of desegregation order" (Klarman, 2007). The good news in the aftermath of Brown was that politicians in the north and south were forced to "…take a position on the issue," so Brown clearly "…had an effect" and it "…also plainly inspired blacks (Klarman). Southern blacks filed lawsuits in Mississippi and South Carolina seeking real integration based on Brown, giving them some power and hope that justice was possible. Klarman explains that Brown "…played a role in generating direct action and in shaping the responses it received from white southerners"; importantly, in terms of the positives that emerged following Brown, the "…hopes and expectations of black Americans" were raised, and those hopes were turned into the realization of dreams once the desegregation (and bussing) controversies settled down.
Klarman explains that the symbolism of Brown had a powerful and positive effect on black Americans. When the highest court in the country renders a decision that goes in favor of an oppressed minority -- after years and years of parents having to send their children to under-funded and under-staffed schools that were overcrowded and did not have modern facilities including relevant and updated textbooks -- it did inspire the African-American community.
Moreover, as Klarman points out, Brown (even though it didn't change things right away and some of the changes that were brought about were not ideal in terms of giving black students the same opportunities to learn the white students were given) the High Court decision "…furthered the hope and the conviction that fundamental racial change was possible." Indeed not long after Brown, the Civil Rights Movement began to take shape; and Klarman believes that while important litigation cannot by itself create social change, Brown opened the door for "Sit-ins, Freedom Rides, and street demonstrations."
The Civil Rights movement "…fostered black agency much better than did litigation," but again, the door to direct action was opened by the High Court's decision, Klarman continues. While Brown inspired southern whites to attempt to wipe out the NAACP, and this "…unintentionally forced blacks to support alternative protest organizations" like the SCLC and Students for Nonviolent Action (SNAP).
Positives that the Supreme Court Decision Brought About
Sociology professor David J. Armor argues that Brown "…aimed to end legally sanctioned segregation, sometimes called de jure segregation," and, he adds, there is "no question the ruling did that." That clearly points to a positive for the American society and for law under the Constitution. Armor is adamant about this issue because some critics of the ruling insist that Brown "…failed to desegregate schools" and that assertion is partly "untrue" and also partly "a distortion of the goals of Brown" (Armor, 2006, 40).
Certainly, as history has shown, desegregation did not happen instantly, although no one familiar with all the racial and political dynamics assumed that it would happen very quickly. It wasn't until the 1970 Swann decision, Armor points out, when the Supreme Court gave its approval to a "…comprehensive racial balance" manifested in the busing plan for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg area of North Carolina, that specifics on how states and cities would fully desegregate schools were offered by the Court (40). This got the desegregation ball rolling, and in the north, the 1974 Keyes decision (in Denver, Colorado) helped get the huge task of desegregating schools moving toward.
You’re 85% through this paper. Sign up to read the full paper.
Sign Up Now — Instant Access Already a member? Log inAlways verify citation format against your institution’s current style guide requirements.