The Declaration of Independence proclaims that “All men are created equal,” but it was not until after the Civil War that true equality was attained in the United States. In 1865, subsequent to the war, the Thirteenth Amendment was ratified and slavery came to an end. Moreover, the Fourteenth Amendment bolstered the rights of recently freed slaves by ensuring their entitlement to “due process of law” and other protections. Ultimately, with the implementation of the Fifteenth Amendment, states were barred from depriving individuals of voting rights based on their race.
Despite the implementation of Amendments, African Americans did not receive the respect they deserved, particularly in the South. Several states enacted Jim Crow laws to segregate black and white individuals, leading to segregation in schools, restrooms, and entrances. This resulted in unequal treatment for both races. Although these laws were considered unfair by many people, it was not until the 1890s that they faced legal challenges.
An important case from 1892 involved Homer Plessy, an African American who was arrested for sitting in a train car reserved for white individuals (History of Brown v. Board of Education).
According to the Board of Education (n.d.), Plessy claimed that racial segregation was unconstitutional and played a crucial role in bringing this issue before the Supreme Court. In the case of Plessy v. Ferguson, Justice Henry Billings Brown justified in his majority opinion that although the Fourteenth Amendment aimed to guarantee equal treatment for all races under the law, it did not intend to remove distinctions based on color or prioritize social equality over political equality.
The Constitution of the United States cannot consider two socially unequal races as equals (History of Brown v. Board of Education, n. d.). The Plessy case established the separate but equal doctrine, which mandated segregation between blacks and whites while ensuring equal treatment. However, after nearly sixty years, Oliver Brown contested this decision in court with the Brown v. Board of Education case.
The Board of Education was sued by Oliver Brown for denying his daughter admission to a racially segregated school near their house. In court, they contended that this segregation in public schools violated the Fourteenth Amendment and demanded that his daughter be allowed to attend her preferred school. Ultimately, they achieved success as all Supreme Court Justices unanimously deemed racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional.
The Supreme Court’s decision to prohibit public segregation and permit Linda Brown, Oliver Brown’s third-grade daughter, to enroll in a white-only school is supported. The “Brown v. Board of Education” case encompassed five different cases: Briggs v. Elliott, Davis v. County, Brown v. Board of Education, Bolling v. Sharpe, Belton v. Gebhart, and Bulah v. Gebhart. All these cases sought to legally contest and oppose racial segregation in public schools.
Each case challenged the violation of the Fourteenth Amendment’s equal protection clause in public schools in Virginia, Delaware, and Kansas. Thurgood Marshall, a prominent attorney, emphasized in the Briggs case that segregation could result in psychological effects for African American students by referencing Dr. Kenneth Clark’s famous doll study. This study illustrated that segregation adversely affected the self-esteem and mental health of African American children (Teaching With Documents, n. d).
The landmark case of Brown v. Board of Education determined that segregation results in feelings of inferiority and can have long-term effects on individuals. Oliver Brown, a parent from Topeka, Kansas, brought forth this legal action against the local school board when his child was denied enrollment at a white school. Brown’s contention was rooted in the assertion that the racial division in Topeka contravened the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution as the black and white schools were inherently disparate.
He contended that his daughter should not be subjected to such a lengthy commute to school on a daily basis. Despite living just five blocks away, Linda was refused admission to a neighboring school that exclusively catered to white students. The federal district court dismissed his lawsuit, along with other comparable cases, asserting that the segregated public schools satisfied constitutional requirements and were “substantially” equivalent in accordance with the Plessy doctrine. Brown appealed this decision to the Supreme Court, which subsequently consolidated and examined all instances of school segregation.
During a period in the United States when racial segregation was prevalent, there were individuals who opposed the concept of integrating public schools. In Briggs v. Elliott, a three-judge panel initially deemed segregation to be legal, with one dissenter, but issued a verdict to address the undeniable inferiority of the schools attended by African American students. This implied that segregation in public schools was deemed lawful, but it was mandated that the segregated schools maintain equality and not be inferior to one another. Gebhart v.
Belton stands alone as the only case among those under Brown v. Board of Education that declared segregation in Delaware’s public schools as unconstitutional. The other cases upheld the legality of segregation in public schools. In reaching its decision, the Court considered psychological studies indicating that black girls in segregated schools experienced low racial self-esteem. The Court determined that the practice of separating children based on race fosters harmful inferiority complexes that can negatively impact black children’s learning abilities.
On May 14, 1954, the Court delivered a unanimous decision stating that the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place in the field of public education. It was concluded that separate educational facilities are inherently unequal. Even if the tangible facilities were equal, racial segregation in schools is always unconstitutional as it is inherently unequal.
The Supreme Court, in the landmark case Plessy v. Ferguson, was overturned and reevaluated in the subsequent Brown II case regarding public schools. The Court instructed states to integrate their schools “with all deliberate speed.” I am in favor of both cases’ plaintiffs and agree with the Supreme Court’s decision. Furthermore, I agree with arguments stating that racial segregation had negative psychological effects on young girls who were required to attend segregated public schools.
The significance of the Brown v. Board of Education case in African American history is immense, as it played a vital role in advocating for the integration of African Americans into white society at that time. Even today, it remains one of the most prominent legal cases undertaken by African Americans to advance the United States. In addition to focusing on children and education, this case aimed to tackle the larger issue of equality within a society that professed equal treatment for African Americans despite evidence proving otherwise.
This case served as a catalyst for many Americans to recognize that the concept of separate but equal was ineffective. The designation of separate but equal was illogical as the circumstances clearly did not align with this notion. Brown v. Board of Education exemplified this, as it prompted the integration of restrooms and water fountains for blacks and whites, ultimately dismantling the notion of “separate but equal”. Brown vs. Board of Education was instrumental in establishing equality for all. Unsurprisingly, there was opposition on both sides of this case, with resistance reaching its peak in Cooper v.
The Aaron decision in 1958 was a significant event in the fight for racial equality in America. It established that states had a constitutional duty to enforce integration orders from the Supreme Court (Cooper v. Aaron, n.d.). By the late 1960s and 1970s, substantial progress had been made towards racial integration in the South. Additionally, Brown v. Board of Education had widespread effects beyond school integration; it also impacted other areas of law and entered politics. While some scholars argue that the modern civil rights movement did not begin with Brown, its crucial role in advancing racial equality in America cannot be denied.
