A Summary of Brown v. Board of Education and Its Ruling
August 23, 2014
A Summary of Brown v. Board of Education and Its Ruling
The Brown v. Board of Education (1954) case approached the morality and constitutionality of the segregation of white and “Negro” students in a public school setting. To be clear, as words have changed connotations since 1954, “Negro” is a term used for people of African descent, and, to uphold consistency, will be the term used in this paper. Brown v. Board of Education (1954) overruled the Plessy v. Fergson (1896) case, which affected the rulings of multiple cases involving this topic before Brown v Board of Education (1954). The opinion of the Court, delivered by Mr. Chief Justice Warren, describes the affects segregation in education has on Negro students and the constitutionality, or lack thereof, of the Plessy v. Fergson (1896) ruling. The opinion of the Court also contributed information from multiple cases dealing with this topic to give the ruling legitimacy.
In the Plessy v. Fergson (1896) case, the “separate but equal” doctrine appeared. This doctrine will be referred to throughout this essay, given that many of the rulings involving this topic were made on the grounds of this doctrine. This case was brought about when Homer Plessy, a Negro man, was arrested for sitting in the white section of a train in Louisiana. Plessy’s lawyer argued that segregation violated the thirteenth and fourteenth amendments. The ruling stated that facilities separated by race and remained equal were constitutional. This doctrine, as mentioned, affected many cases that dealt with segregation in public education. In all but Brown v. Board of Education (1954), the legitimacy of the doctrine was never questioned (Wormser).
Many cases were considered in the ruling of Brown v. Board of Education (1954) other than the case itself; a few were Briggs v. Elliot (1952), Davis v. County School Board (1952), and Gebhart v. Belton (1952). The case Brown v. Board of Education (1954) involved Negro elementary students
A Summary of Brown v. Board of Education and Its Ruling
The Brown v. Board of Education (1954) case approached the morality and constitutionality of the segregation of white and “Negro” students in a public school setting. To be clear, as words have changed connotations since 1954, “Negro” is a term used for people of African descent, and, to uphold consistency, will be the term used in this paper. Brown v. Board of Education (1954) overruled the Plessy v. Fergson (1896) case, which affected the rulings of multiple cases involving this topic before Brown v Board of Education (1954). The opinion of the Court, delivered by Mr. Chief Justice Warren, describes the affects segregation in education has on Negro students and the constitutionality, or lack thereof, of the Plessy v. Fergson (1896) ruling. The opinion of the Court also contributed information from multiple cases dealing with this topic to give the ruling legitimacy.
In the Plessy v. Fergson (1896) case, the “separate but equal” doctrine appeared. This doctrine will be referred to throughout this essay, given that many of the rulings involving this topic were made on the grounds of this doctrine. This case was brought about when Homer Plessy, a Negro man, was arrested for sitting in the white section of a train in Louisiana. Plessy’s lawyer argued that segregation violated the thirteenth and fourteenth amendments. The ruling stated that facilities separated by race and remained equal were constitutional. This doctrine, as mentioned, affected many cases that dealt with segregation in public education. In all but Brown v. Board of Education (1954), the legitimacy of the doctrine was never questioned (Wormser).
Many cases were considered in the ruling of Brown v. Board of Education (1954) other than the case itself; a few were Briggs v. Elliot (1952), Davis v. County School Board (1952), and Gebhart v. Belton (1952). The case Brown v. Board of Education (1954) involved Negro elementary students