DecidedIn choosing a case for our project, my group and I found this one particular case very interesting. The statue being addressed in this case is the Fourteenth Amendment, dealing with racial segregation.
In 1911, a United States Senator, by the name of Augustus O. Bacon left a will stating that after his wife and daughters pass away, a certain allotment of land was to be given to the Mayor of Macon in which a park and pleasure ground was to be built. However, also in the will it stated that only whites may inhabit the park grounds, and all Negroes must stay off the grounds.To make sure Negroes stayed out of the park, the will stated that a board of trustees must be appointed from the town to keep this a white only area.
I find this very interesting, because with segregation, the city cannot legally enforce racial segregation in a public park. In fact, according to the Fourteenth Amendment, the court cannot enforce segregation against any public area of land. The federal ruling on this issue was that the city kept the park racially segregated for some years but eventually let Negroes use it, taking the position that the park was a public facility which it could not legally manage and maintain on a racially segregated basis.
In my opinion, I feel the courts ruling on this issue is a just one, because racial segregation is not at all fair. I fully agree with Senator Bacons idea of building a public park after he and his family pass on. However, I completely disagree with the idea that the park should be segregated. I believe the ramifications the courts rulings could have on society would be good for most, but bad for others. Most people are against racial segregation, so they would be happy with the courts ruling. However, there is a small portion of people who would be unhappy with the courts ruling because of their racist thoughts, and beliefs.
The part of this project I liked the most was filming it with my friends, and having many laughs. However, I found most of the project a challenge, because it is unlike any other project I have ever had to do, and was complicated. The part I found most difficult was determining the outcome of the case, because it was unclear. All in all, I found this project to be fun and interesting.
