The Road to Brown documentary describes major events of the 20th century that helped to end up racial segregation in the American South. It is a story on how African Americans managed to legally pave the way to equal educational opportunities and, thus, contributed to the death of Jim Crow era.
Charles Hamilton Houston, a legendary black lawyer and the first black editor of the Harvard Law Review, is a central figure of The Road to Brown (The Road To Brown). He is presented as a mastermind of this anti-segregation movement due to a brilliant strategy he developed and the priceless legacy he left behind.
The movie perfectly depicts ambiguous standards of American society and government, who interpreted constitutional values in a way it was beneficial to the majority, white Americans.
Nowadays, it is hard to imagine the times when racial diversity in schools was something more than just inappropriate, it was unlawful. Racial segregation in the American South concerned not only the educational sector, but actually all aspects of social, political and economic life (The Road To Brown).
The Civil War brought victory to the American North and the abolishment of slavery, which was guaranteed by the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution. The government did not stop on the achieved, and within the 14th and 15th Amendments black citizens received equal protection of the laws and the right to vote (The Road To Brown).
It is reasonable to assume that new laws should have established unprecedentedly different social orders in the US, and in the American South in particular; however, the reality of life had nothing to do with those expectations. As soon as federal troops left the South, state governments enacted new laws in order to retract the benefits that black citizens had acquired with the help of 14th and 15th Amendments. Those changes raised a question among African Americans whether they could rely on constitutional laws(The Road To Brown).
In 1895, in Louisiana, Homer Plessy dared to violate one segregation law, which required separate cars for African American passengers, and took a sit in car reserved for white Americans. Plessy was arrested. The issue resulted in a famous Plessy v. Ferguson case, which was resolved against Plessy by the Supreme Court. The Court unanimously stated that the 14th Amendment did not intend to neglect social differences based upon race (The Road To Brown).
That case facilitated the introduction of new segregation laws passed by twenty-one states. Charles Houston grew up in the society where a strict line separated 'colored America' from the 'white America. African Americans were obliged to eat in separate restaurants, play in separate parks and were allowed to receive education in separate schools (The Road To Brown).
In order to understand why and how an ordinary black citizen became a Chief Counsel of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and a dean of Howard University Law School, it is important to mention most remarkable facts about this person. Charles Houston had a relatively privileged background, as his mother used to be a teacher, while his father was a lawyer and ran his own lawyer firm. Houston had shown excellent results in high school and later on, in 1915, graduated with honors from Amherst college, Massachusetts (The Road To Brown).
During the World War I, Houston served as an officer in the US Army, racially segregated army. He witnessed and personally experienced racial discrimination in all of its aspects, including lynchings organized by white soldiers (The Road To Brown).
Most likely, this time period had become a turning point in his life, since once back home, he entered Harvard Law School in 1920. Having graduated from Harvard Law School, Charles Houston spent much time to make a profound research on how the US legal system actually worked. He discovered that Jim Crow could be defeated. Charles Houston determined the educational sector as a strategically important aspect to undermine the segregation system (The Road To Brown). From different points of view, this decision seems to be logical and consistent, as there is no denying the fact that school is a stronghold for development of youths' mentality and their perception of social differences, in terms of race in particular.
The first prominent case Houston successfully won was the defense of Donald Murray's constitutional right to enter the University of Maryland Law School, namely Murray v. Maryland case. Charles Houston was persuasive enough to prove the violation of the 14th Amendment when Murray had been denied in admission because of his race (The Road To Brown).
The next step was to equalize teacher's salary for African Americans, which was no less than twice lower than white counterparts received. With the help of Thurgood Marshall and other NAACP members, several legal cases forced the authorities to double the paychecks of African American teachers (The Road To Brown).
The next case, Gaines v. Missouri, achieved even more brilliant results than the Murray v. Maryland one, sine the resolution became applicable to all states. Gaines, being a citizen of Missouri, intended to enter the law school, which was the only one available in his native land; however, his admission was rejected with a proposal to choose any other alternative option bordering Missouri. The case was sent to the US Supreme Court which agreed that rejection was a violation of the 14th Amendment (The Road To Brown).
In subsequent years after the Gaines v. Missouri success, the NAACP team continued the fight for equal rights opportunities for black citizens in higher education. In December 1952, the Supreme Court opened the spectacular Brown v. Board of Education case, which put to an end racial segregation in public schools. It all started with Oliver Brown and dozen other families who demanded the right for their children to attend nearby white schools, rather than commuting to remote areas because of being assigned to segregated schools for black citizens. In May 1954, the Supreme Court abolished racial segregation in public schools (The Road To Brown).
The Road to Brown was the first big step the society made to achieve the future that our generation can be proud of today. In my opinion, the Road to Brown shows not only the victory of African American activists over the racially biased system, but also implies the triumph of American society over its prejudice and mistakes of the past.
Works cited
The Road To Brown. William Elwood, 1990. DVD.
