Brown v. Board of Education, Essay Example

Plessy v. Ferguson case in 1896 established that segregation is legal for as long as facilities for different races are ‘equal’ (PBS n.d.). Despite the 13^th and the 14^th Amendments, African Americans received inferior treatment than White Americans in many parts of the country, especially the South. The laws in many states which together came to be known as the Jim Crow laws, required blacks and whites to use different facilities and attend different schools among other things. In early 1950s, NAACP lawyers brought class action lawsuits on behalf of African American school children and their families to allow black children to attend the same schools as white children. One of these class action lawsuits was Brown v. Board of Education in which the plaintiff Oliver Brown alleged Topeka, Kansas schools were violating Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause because white and black schools are not equal nor they could be. The federal court dismissed the case so the case went to the Supreme Court. Brown’s appeal was consolidated with other school segregation cases which were represented by chief counsel Thurgood Marshall (PBS n.d.).

The Supreme Court gave an unanimous decision under the guidance of Chief Justice Earl Warren that racial segregation in schools indeed violated the Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The court noted the importance of public education in the 20^th century and asserted that denial to good public education would hurt a child’s future. The court also took notice of psychological studies that segregation leads to inferiority complex among children from minority groups. The court ruled that even if physical facilities of black and white schools may be equal, racial segregation still leads to inherent inequality and, thus, unconstitutional (PBS n.d.). Thus, racial segregation which was ruled constitutional by Plessy v. Ferguson case was rendered unconstitutional by Brown v. Board of Education case.

Brown v. Board of Education ruling made it clear that U.S. Constitution is color-blind and all citizens should not only have access to similar quality services but to the same services. The ruling also sent the message that equality will not be achieved in America unless different races seek integration rather than segregation. The ruling also paved the way for civil rights movement because the Court was finally on the right side.

The court realized that segregation enabled discrimination against non-white Americans and recognized the fact that that equality cannot be possible under ‘different but equal’ doctrine. The ruling was also acknowledgement of the fact that inferior quality services were being provided to non-white Americans.

Another impact of the Brown v. Board of Education case was that it also helped paved the way for improvement in economic status of African Americans. Not only the case encouraged greater participation of African Americans in the political system of the country that Southern Congressmen made it a priority to prevent political rise of African Americans but over the long term, it also helped build African Americans middle class. It sent the message to African Americans that they now had at least a chance to change their fate and had protection under the law which was initially denied to them. The case also affirmed the importance of legal system in advancing social progress.

References

PBS. Brown v. Board of Education (1954). http://www.pbs.org/wnet/supremecourt/rights/landmark_brown.html (accessed March 27, 2014).

—. Plessy v. Ferguson (1896). http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/stories_events_plessy.html (accessed March 27, 2014).