Plessy V. Ferguson Case Analysis
After the Plessy v. Ferguson case in 1896, the statement of “separate but equal” was created, preventing African Americans from achieving equality. In 1951 in Topeka, Kansas, a girl named Linda Brown was forbidden from attending Summer Elementary school, which was the school closest to her home, due to the color of her skin and was instead forced to go to a school for African American children much farther away. With the help of the NAACP, the National Association of the Advancement of Colored People, and Thurgood Marshall, her father, Oliver Brown, filed a lawsuit against the Topeka Board of Education. The Court spent four terms making their final decision, which came in 1954, banning segregated schools and getting rid of the whole “separate
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The decision to eradicate segregated schools gained a variety of reactions. For example, the Arkansas legislature proclaimed the desegregation idea unconstitutional. Others ignored the ruling. in the Strauder v. West Virginia case of 1880, the Court decided that “racial classifications that implied inferiority violated the Fourteenth Amendment” (Lively). However, many did not think that segregation created the feeling of inferiority and that people of color chose to have this interpretation of it. It was also widely believed that it was needed to keep “public peace and good order” (Lively). Closer to the time of Plessy v. Ferguson, the Court did not think that it had the power rid society of racism and discrimination and did not try to confront the situation because it would be “counterproductive”. It also stated, “the Constitution cannot elevate a racially inferior group to the level of what it viewed as a superior group” (Lively), confirming the idea that segregation was a way of maintaining the social structure of white supremacy. The people opposed to the ban of segregated schools chose to ignore the protests that having this kind of school system damaged the mindsets of the students and created the impression that the African American children were worth less than everyone
The decision to eradicate segregated schools gained a variety of reactions. For example, the Arkansas legislature proclaimed the desegregation idea unconstitutional. Others ignored the ruling. in the Strauder v. West Virginia case of 1880, the Court decided that “racial classifications that implied inferiority violated the Fourteenth Amendment” (Lively). However, many did not think that segregation created the feeling of inferiority and that people of color chose to have this interpretation of it. It was also widely believed that it was needed to keep “public peace and good order” (Lively). Closer to the time of Plessy v. Ferguson, the Court did not think that it had the power rid society of racism and discrimination and did not try to confront the situation because it would be “counterproductive”. It also stated, “the Constitution cannot elevate a racially inferior group to the level of what it viewed as a superior group” (Lively), confirming the idea that segregation was a way of maintaining the social structure of white supremacy. The people opposed to the ban of segregated schools chose to ignore the protests that having this kind of school system damaged the mindsets of the students and created the impression that the African American children were worth less than everyone