History of Education

In the decades that made up the fifties, sixties, and seventies numerous events that would paint the canvas of American education took place. Equality was an idea that some thought we would never see. Civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King, Jr. saw this idea of equity as an obtainable dream that was in the hearts of all Americans. Though desegregation and the fair treatment of African Americans was at the forefront of the civil rights movement, there were several issues that would be brought to the attention of law makers, federal judges, and the education system. Such issues included segregation, bilingual students, and special needs education. In 1954, Chief Justice Earl Warren delivered the opinion of the court in one of the most influential cases to ever be presented on the floor of the Supreme Court: "?it is doubtful that any child may reasonably be expected to succeed in life if he is denied the opportunity of an education. Such an opportunity, where the state has undertaken to provide it, is a right which must be made available to all on equal terms." 1
This ruling, made in the case of Brown v. the Board of Education of Topeka, KS, effectively overturned a decision made in the 1896 Supreme Court case Plessy v. Ferguson. For nearly sixty years, it had been considered constitutionally justified to segregate the public education system. The opinion delivered by Chief Justice Warren served as a platform from which the Civil Rights Act (CRA) of 1964 would be propelled. Before this would occur, many obstacles would have to be conquered. On September 2, 1957 Arkansas Gov. Orval Faubus defied a federal court order to desegregate public schools by dispatching the State National Guard unit to prevent 9 African American students from entering Central High School. It wasn't until a federal judge had issued an injunction against the Governor's use of National Guard troops and President Dwight D. Eisenhower had dispatched one thousand Army troops to the