The Brown vs. Board of Education case was a colossal influence on desegregation of schools in the United States of America. It created a milestone of equal opportunities in schools among the blacks and whites. The ruling of this case took place in 1954 and it ruled in favor of Mr. Brown. It is among one of the important cases ever heard on racial prejudice in the American history.
The Brown vs. Board of Education case is about a young third grader girl in Kansas, Topeka city named Linda Brown (Dudley 48). Linda was subjected to trekking one mile through a railway switchyard daily in order to reach her black elementary school despite there being a white school seven blocks away from her home. Browns father attempted to find a chance in the white school to get her enrolled there since the black elementary school was far from home but the principal of the white school rejected Linda’s enrollment because she was black and the school was a white school. Mr. Brown and other parents reported the incident to the head of Topeka’s National Association for Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The head of NAACP Mr. McKinley Burnett had really waited for such an opportunity so as to challenge racial segregation problem in court as segregation cases were very rampant in the United States schools. This was the right opportunity as Mr. Burnett and NAACP took legal action by taking the case to the District court. Brown lost the case to the state but he overruled the decision of the Kansas district court and took the case to the Supreme Court of the United States.
The Jim Crow law was enacted and enforced between 1875 and 1965. This law was enacted in the south and some other border states of the U.S. The laws mandated the separate equal status for black Americans. Black Americans were segregated and were treated in an inferior manner compared to the treatment provided to the white Americans. The laws required that, there should be a separation between the White Americans and back Americans in public schools, public places and even public transport including buses and trains, there were trains and buses specifically for the whites and for blacks. The whites and blacks had different educational facilities as for the white students facilities were special compared to those of the black students. There was separation both in accommodation and transport. This was the same law that was used to separate schools for whites and blacks.
The law used on the Brown vs. Board of Education case was the 14th amendment. It was the basis of the judges’ ruling as the case at hand had violated the 14th amendment. Even though the blacks were segregated by the whites basing on the Jim Crow laws, the 14th amendment had a provision of equal protection and this was the law that was in place at the time of the case. Segregation was unconstitutional based on the 14th amendment (Harvey and Fuller, 213).
In the Brown vs. the Board of Education case, the judge ruled in favor of Mr. Brown and the other parents from Kansas, Topeka. The plaintiff argued that when children are segregated basing on their color and race by having to attend different schools passed the message that blacks and whites are not equal. Furthermore, it spells out that whites are more superior because they have special educational facilities compared to those of the blacks. African Americans were segregated making them unequal to the white Americans. Moreover, segregation can cause psychological damage to black children. They further argued that when the black children are segregated, it is a violation of the 14th amendment which calls for equal treatment and opportunities. Many people including Dr. Hugh W. Speer agreed to the plaintiff’s stance that, all children should be treated equally regardless of their race and color. Conversely, the defense which was the Board of Education argued that segregation prepared children for their future since they should grow up knowing that they will always be separated from the whites. They further argued that segregation in school children brings no harm to black children. They gave examples of Booker T. Washington and George Washington Carver who overcame the racial segregation and became very successful people in the United States. The judges on the Brown case casted nine to zero votes on this case and ruled that the board of education acted unconstitutionally by denying black children a chance to enroll in white schools. It had violated the 14th amendment.
On the 17th of May 1954, the ruling of this case took place and the judge ruled in favor of Mr. Brown and the other parents. The chief justice Mr. Warren delivered a unanimous verdict which was in favor of Linda Brown. Mr. Warren reasoned that education was a vital function of the state and the local government. This is demonstrated by compulsory school attendance laws which show the states recognition of its importance to a democratic society. Therefore, education is a foundation of good citizenship which is a vital element to all citizens regardless of their race and color and no child should be denied of the opportunity of good education due to racial segregation. Since it is the state that provides education to all, it should be a right that should be made available to all children in public schools on equal terms without segregation (Good 94). Segregation in public schools deny the minority children equal educational opportunities as the whites are given special privileges and this should be stopped.
Chief justice Warren ruled that, the segregation of white and black children is unconstitutional since it violates the 14th amendment and all citizens should have equal rights to educational and other facilities. While rendering his final verdict, Judge Warren referred the case to other cases, cases like; Briggs vs. Elliot, Gebhart vs. Belton, Bolling vs. Sharpe and Plessy vs. Ferguson. In all these cases, Judge Warren found inequality in them. It was determined that white students enjoyed special privileges which were denied to the black students with same educational qualifications. The ruling was that school children should be given equal learning opportunities and they should never be segregated basing on their color or race and should be allowed to be enrolled in white schools. The majority decision was that segregation was unconstitutional, therefore, all children deserve equal rights to education. Not everyone accepted the unanimous ruling on the Brown vs. the Board of Education case as it led to resistance and closure of schools but it was later adopted.
Brown vs. Board of Education case made the U.S. Supreme Court to recognize that schools for whites and blacks were unconstitutional. It was also learned that every child has a right to good education regardless of their race and color and they should never be separated in schools. The Supreme Court proved through this case that democracy is on trial when schools are separated based on race yet there should be impartiality in the society. The decision on this case became very important in the United States as it spearheaded the struggle against racial segregation in the US.
The Brown vs. Board of Education case made everyone equal as the United States became more racial tolerant both in schools and public places despite the resistance after the ruling. Judge Warren’s arguments that education was a valuable asset in the United States and no group of people should be deprived of it led to measures being taken against those who segregated blacks and whites (Patterson 142).
In conclusion, the Brown vs. Board of Education case was between Mr. Brown, 13 parents and the Education board. Mr. Brown took legal action after his 7 year old daughter Linda Brown was a denied enrollment in a white school near their home. She was forced to walk a mile on her way to school everyday to a black school. Mr. Brown lost the case at the state court but later took it to the Supreme Court. The ruling was in favor of the parents and Mr., Brown because racial segregation was unconstitutional based on the 14th amendment as all people were entitled to equality. Judge Warren delivered a unanimous verdict by declaring the act unconstitutional. It was determined that children have a right to attend any school despite their color and race and education should be made equal to all.
Works Cited
Dudley, Mark. Brown v. Board of Education (1954). New York: Twenty-First Century
Books, 1994. Print.
Harvey, Fireside and Fuller, Sarah. Brown v. Board of Education, Equal Schooling for All. New Jersey: Enslow Publishers Inc., 1994.
Good, Diane. Brown v. Board of Education, Cornerstones of Freedom. Canada: Scholastic Inc., 2004. Print.
Patterson, James. Brown v. Board of Education: A Civil Rights Milestone and its Troubled Legacy. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001. Print
