African-American History: Brown V. Board Term Paper

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Board of Education case of 1954. There is no case in education board's history that has played a more important role or has served as a bigger judicial turning point than this case. In the history of important cases, Brown vs. Board of Education occupies a top slot because of its impact not only on education system in the country but on the fate of African-Americans in United States. It just changed the way Americans handled issue of human rights.

In 1950s, racial segregation in schools was a norm. While schools were required to be equal in quality of education, they were also meant to be separate. It was found that even equality principle was not followed in spirit since most black schools offered education which inferior in quality. In 1849, a similar case Roberts vs. City of Boston surfaced to challenge the education system of racial segregation but nothing concrete came out of this. In fact Benjamin Roberts and other African-American parents were denied the right to enroll their children in selected Boston schools. In other words, this case upheld racial segregation. A few years later, in 1855 segregation in schools was abolished by Massachusetts legislature. However it was more in theory than practice. In 1896 came the important case of Plessy v. Ferguson where United States Supreme Court called for separate but equal access to various facilities to African-Americans. This landmark case however denied blacks a chance to achieve complete equality because based on this declaration; blacks were offered separate facilities in restaurants, public transport, hotels and education. Several other cases surfaced since the Roberts case in 1849 and by 1949 court had made little or no effort to strike down racial segregation. Brown vs. Board of Education case was filed from Kansas. Before this case, some eleven school cases had emerged between 1881 and 1949 in Kansas. None however managed to bring about any real change in school segregation system.

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In 1908, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was founded and this organization helped black people achieve equality by providing them with legal counsel and funding whenever needed.

Linda Brown was a third grade student whose father Oliver Brown wanted to admit her to a white school in the neighborhood since Linda had to walk miles everyday to reach her black school. She was denied admission in the white school and this resulted in Brown seeking help from McKinley Burnett, the head of Topeka's branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). NAACP was more than willing to assist since they finally had the "the right plaintiff at the right time."[2] in his testimony, Dr. Hugh W. Speer, an expert witness explained that segregation was unhealthy and unfair to black students:

if the colored children are denied the experience in school of associating with white children, who represent 90% of our national society in which these colored children must live, then the colored child's curriculum is being greatly curtailed. The Topeka curriculum or any school curriculum cannot be equal under segregation."[3]

The case continued for several months and in May 1954, the court in its landmark decision struck down separate but equal clause and called for school integration. In his ruling Chief Justice Earl Warren said: "We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of 'separate but equal' has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal. Therefore, we hold that the plaintiffs and others similarly situated for whom the actions have been brought are, by reason of the segregation complained of, deprived of the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment." [4]

The case was seen as a colossal step in the right direction as it gave more encouragement to civil rights movement which ultimately resulted in a much better.....

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