Case Summary: Brown vs. the Board of Education
The Brown v. Board of Education case is one of the most famous segregation cases that said states laws with separate schools for black and white students was unconstitutional. This decision also went to overturn the Plessy v. Ferguson case, which allowed state segregation.
In 1951, a lawsuit was filed against the Board of Education of the city of Topeka, Kansas. The plaintiffs consisted of thirteen parents of twenty children who attended the Topeka School District. They filed the suit hoping that the school district would change its policy of racial segregation. Each of the plaintiffs were recruited by the Topeka NCAAP, led by McKinley Burnett, Charles Scott, and Lucinda Scott.
One plaintiff, Oliver L. Brown, the father of Linda Brown, was upset that Linda had to walk six blocks to get onto a bus that would take her to a segregated black school a mile away, when she was in walking distance of the white school. Each year, the Browns’ tried to enroll her into this school that was closer by, and every year they were rejected. The main issue that was focused on in this case was whether or not the 14th amendment was violated by denying education in a specific school because of the child’s race. This was a major issue because seventeen states were still segregating their schools. The supreme court created procedures under which school boards would desegregate their schools with a deliberate speed.
The supreme court ruled 9-0 that segregated education is inherently unequal. As a result, segregated schools were declared in violation of the U.S. Constitution. The ruling essentially led the way for the civil rights movement and essentially integration across the United States. Although the case of Brown v. Board of Education has not solved all the racial and segregation problems in this country, it was a big step in the right direction.
In 1951, a lawsuit was filed against the Board of Education of the city of Topeka, Kansas. The plaintiffs consisted of thirteen parents of twenty children who attended the Topeka School District. They filed the suit hoping that the school district would change its policy of racial segregation. Each of the plaintiffs were recruited by the Topeka NCAAP, led by McKinley Burnett, Charles Scott, and Lucinda Scott.
One plaintiff, Oliver L. Brown, the father of Linda Brown, was upset that Linda had to walk six blocks to get onto a bus that would take her to a segregated black school a mile away, when she was in walking distance of the white school. Each year, the Browns’ tried to enroll her into this school that was closer by, and every year they were rejected. The main issue that was focused on in this case was whether or not the 14th amendment was violated by denying education in a specific school because of the child’s race. This was a major issue because seventeen states were still segregating their schools. The supreme court created procedures under which school boards would desegregate their schools with a deliberate speed.
The supreme court ruled 9-0 that segregated education is inherently unequal. As a result, segregated schools were declared in violation of the U.S. Constitution. The ruling essentially led the way for the civil rights movement and essentially integration across the United States. Although the case of Brown v. Board of Education has not solved all the racial and segregation problems in this country, it was a big step in the right direction.