Supreme Court Decisions Essay

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Brown v. Board of Education

In the opinion of this paper, there is no doubt at all that the U.S. Supreme Court decision in May, 1954 -- Brown v. Board of Education -- changed the nation in a very positive way. And it changed the nation not just in the sense of setting the wheels in motion to end school segregation, but by bringing justice to one segment of the American population that was ultimately a positive for the whole nation. Brown v. Board of Education was a confirmation that the U.S. Constitution was still the guiding democratic principle -- that it had not been permanently abandoned in the south by the cruel racist policies during the Jim Crow era. This paper reviews and critiques the Brown v. Board of Education (referred to in this paper as just "Brown") decision, the reactions to Brown, the resistance to Brown, and ultimately the positives that resulted from Brown.

Reasons why Brown v. Board of Education Brought Positives to the Nation

A personal essay by Dr. William B. Harvey presents a first-hand account of what it was like to be an African-American boy growing up in North Carolina in the 1950s. Actually, Harvey was 6 years old when Brown was ruled on by the High Court. At six years of age, Harvey was "…keenly aware of segregation and what it meant" as he attended a racially segregated elementary school (Harvey, 2005). "Segregation was mean and ugly and humiliating. It was a state of affairs that made you know your place and that kept you in your place." If you happened to be black, "…your place was at the bottom," Harvey remembered on page 43. He recalls having textbooks that had been used by white students but given to the black segregated schools "…when [the white] schools received new ones" (45).

Harvey writes that he had an "epiphany of sorts" on a field trip in North Carolina. The University of North Carolina planetarium in Chapel Hill allowed "…the little colored children of the state" to visit one day a month, and he was fascinated with the "…astrological phenomena" and was "quite taken" by the exploration of the cosmos by huge telescopes (44). While walking across campus, back to the school bus "…it occurred to me that I could not be a student at this wonderful institution, which was supported by taxes paid by my parents" (44). He was given to wonder what the "…learned professors were saying to their students" in classes like history, ethics, and political science, about "…the incredible duality that existed outside the windows of the classroom" (44).

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What Harvey saw during the period of segregated schools -- even after Brown became law -- was a nation that "…provided liberty and justice for some" (44).

Brown v. Board of Education was Sabotaged at the Outset

Just because the High Court ruled that "separate but equal" was not constitutional when it comes to education doesn't mean that southern states would obey the federal law. In fact the response was anything but cooperative; it was quite the contrary, in fact. Congress and the president were "…unenthusiastic about implementing the decision," according to Michael J. Klarman, the James Monroe Professor of Law and Professor of History at the University of Virginia.

How would Brown be enforced? That was one of the big questions; meanwhile the "…white South declared war on the Court, nullified Brown, and deployed state troops and encouraged vigilante mobs to block the enforcement of desegregation order" (Klarman, 2007). The good news in the aftermath of Brown was that politicians in the north and south were forced to "…take a position on the issue," so Brown clearly "…had an effect" and it "…also plainly inspired blacks (Klarman). Southern blacks filed lawsuits in Mississippi and South Carolina seeking real integration based on Brown, giving them some power and hope that justice was possible. Klarman explains that Brown "…played a role in generating direct action and in shaping the responses it received from white southerners"; importantly, in terms of the positives that emerged following Brown, the "…hopes and expectations of black Americans" were raised, and….....

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