Brown v. Board of Education

Background:

After the American Civil War, the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was adopted. It guaranteed equal protection and due process under the law to all citizens. Despite this, many states, primarily in the South of the U.S. enforced strict segregation through “Jim Crow” laws. The Supreme Court ruled in the previous Plessy v. Ferguson: racial segregation was constitutional under the doctrine of "separate but equal”. Contradictory to this idea, segregated public facilities were often not equal, with everything from water fountains to schools intended for Black people underfunded, overcrowded, and generally inferior in comparison to those reserved for White people.

The Case:

At this time, Black children in the United States were prohibited from going to schools designated for White students. The case of Brown v. Board of Education was a consolidation of cases arising in Kansas, Virginia, South Carolina, Delaware, and Washington D.C. The NAACP combined five separate lawsuits led by the case in Topeka, Kansas, of Oliver Brown. Students in these cases challenged school segregation under the 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution, with simply the desire to attend their local school instead of a farther one, but were denied access due to race.

Debates From Each Side:

The plaintiffs argued due to the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, students of all races had the right to be treated equally. They stated segregation itself creates inequalities, making one group appear inferior. It was reasoned, segregating children from a very young age ingrained in them inequality and inferiority. Government actions went directly against the doctrine of "separate but equal” as there was not true equality, they argued. The school board of education contrastingly reasoned this segregation was acceptable as states had historically run segregated schools. They backed this with the idea that facilities for different races were in fact equal. Their argument also centered around the precedent case of Plessy v. Ferguson, which declared racial segregation to be constitutional.

Verdict:

In a 9-0 unanimous vote, the Supreme Court found racial segregation in public schools to be unconstitutional. This inherently overturned the precedent case of Plessy v. Ferguson. The Court ruled state-sanctioned segregation in public schools violated the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause. It was stated "separate but equal” facilities such as schools were inherently unequal. Not only were resources provided and intended for Black Americans in the U.S. often underfunded and of significantly lower quality, but the act of segregation itself destroys educational opportunities to those underserved due to race, fostering a general feeling of further division between people.

Legacy:

This case immediately had an enormous impact, ordering the desegregation of schools, and was a major step towards greater equality in the Civil Rights Movement, paving the way for further change to be made. Due to the verdict in this case, on November 14, 1960, six year old Ruby Bridges became the first African American child to attend and desegregate a previously all white school. This case stands today as a major landmark case, pioneering change in schools, while also having setting the stage for the further dismantling of segregation in public facilities throughout the United States. The principal this case set, that the government does not have the right to discriminate or limit opportunity due to race stays relevant throughout more recent events, continuing to shape modern debates.