How effective was the Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education
in progressing racial equality in the United States?
Until the middle of the twentieth century, racial segregation existed throughout the United States as the doctrine of “separate but equal” was declared constitutional. The majority of white people in America accepted that if the facilities were equal, then there was no moral harm in separating citizens based on the color of their skin. However, when an African-American man named Oliver Brown decided that his daughter, Linda, should not be forced to walk for over a mile to receive her education every day when there was a “white-only” school much closer to their home, he sparked a discussion that would be remembered for generations to come. Arguing that segregated schools violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment Brown took his case to the Supreme Court. This clause says that no state shall “deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws ” (“Fourteenth Amendment (Ratified 1868)”). The case, fully named Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, presented the opportunity the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, or the NAACP, was looking for to finally fight legally-mandated segregation (Duignan). Eventually, under Chief Justice Earl Warren, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, declaring that racial segregation of public schools did, in fact, violate the Fourteenth Amendment. By finally realizing the unconstitutionality of racial segregation, Brown v. Board became a landmark case that would lead to the first steps toward ending racism in the United States of America. Although desegregation was not implemented immediately as a result of opposition from certain regions, the case Brown v. Board of Education was effective in progressing racial equality in the United States because it reversed years of legalized segregation, brought light to the psychological effects of discrimination on African-Americans, established morality in the judicial branch, and gave rise to the Civil Rights Movement.
The Brown case was effective first and foremost because it reversed years of legal racial segregation in America. For one, it was based on reversing the 1896 ruling of Plessy v. Ferguson which argued in favor of the constitutionality of segregated buses by the Separate Car Act in New Orleans. Homer Plessy, with the NAACP, believed that separating African-Americans into different buses was unjust by the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment However, the Supreme Court denied his claim, establishing the “separate but equal” doctrine, which said that as long as public institutions are under equal conditions, they can be segregated and still be constitutional under the Fourteenth Amendment. This decision by the Supreme Court established a precedent that racial segregation was acceptable according to the law, and thus “opened the floodgates for southern states to legally segregate society according to race” (Sherman). In 1954, the unanimous decision of Brown v. Board was able to get rid of the “separate but equal” doctrine. Although the racially segregated school that Linda Brown was sent to had equal standards as its white-only counterpart, it was concluded that the act of segregation itself was unconstitutional. Therefore, the Brown case was an important step toward racial equality as it showed that “separate but equal” was still a violation of African-American human rights and the Fourteenth Amendment. .
The Jim Crow laws of the southern states, set in place after Plessy v. Ferguson, made it lawful for African-Americans to be treated as inferiors. The era of Jim Crow allowed for public bathrooms, schools, and restaurants to be segregated (Smith). Calling them “laws” gave these acts a sense of legal legitimacy, when in reality they were simply a way of disguising racial discrimination. The United States had reached an age where inequality was etched into law. When the case of Brown v. Board of Education came along, it reversed the years of inequality by formally declaring that segregation was unconstitutional ("Brown v. Board of Education (1954)"). This action not only ended the age of Jim Crow, but also opened the way to realizing the perversion of human rights caused by segregation. Racial discrimination was not only a legal problem, but a moral one as well.
The Brown v. Board decision was also influential because it focused on seeing the humanity of the effects of segregation on African-Americans. First, it handled the issue of racial discrimination as it was newly introduced. Kansas, the state in which the landmark case took place, never had a history of slavery (Smith). The fact that segregation of public schools existed in Kansas at the time demonstrates that the same people who opposed slavery were unaware that segregation also made African-Americans inferior. After the end of slavery, people turned a blind eye to the fact that racial inequality could still exist, and therefore were unable to see that segregation was hindering the advancement of equality. Brown v. Board pointed out this fact in the argument that segregation was a social problem, and was thus effective in presenting that segregation should be left in the past if the United States were to progress as a nation.
To extend the argument of the Brown v. Board of Education case, African-American psychologists Kenneth and Mamie Clarke conducted “the doll test” with the hopes of establishing the debilitating psychological effects of racial segregation. This research was then used in court as part of the evidence to help prove the argument of the plaintiffs, that segregation in any form was unequal. This experiment consisted of asking a group of children to identify different characteristics among a set of four dolls. They found that the subjects attributed more positive traits to the dolls with lighter skins. Thus, it was “concluded that ‘prejudice, discrimination, and segregation’ created a feeling of inferiority among African-American children and damaged their self-esteem” (“Brown at 60: The Doll Test”). Even if the schools they went to were similar, the fact that African-American students knew that they had to go to a different public school solely because of their darker skin color was shown to create an inferiority complex among the children, therefore helping to argue the consequences of segregation. The Brown v. Board case used the Doll Test to prove that racial segregation “[marginalized] the African American people by depriving them of their constitutional rights as U.S. citizens” (Sherman), and was therefore effective in giving the general population an understanding of how legal segregation set a norm of racial inequality.
The Supreme Court case further helped progress an end to racial inequality by re-establishing the ability of the judicial branch to make decisions based on a belief in human rights of all citizens, rather than just a technical interpretation of the Constitution – as was used when “separate but equal” was declared constitutional. During the time that Brown v. Board of Education was being argued, there were a series of five other NAACP cases that involved the Fourteenth Amendment in America. However, what distinguished Brown, making it more widely-known than the others, was the fact that Linda Brown’s school facilities were of equal standards to the white-only school nearby (Garbus 18). This meant that technically, segregation of the public schools was legal under Plessy v. Ferguson. Thus the Supreme Court had to decide the case partly on moral grounds, truly addressing the issue of whether or not African-American citizens were equal to their white counterparts. The choice to reverse the doctrine and call segregation “inherently unequal” (“Brown v. Board of Education (1954)”) displayed the power of the judicial branch to make decisions based on humanity and their interpretation of the Constitution. In this way, the wording of Chief Justice Earl Warren’s decision shows the effectiveness of Brown in advancing the understanding of racial equality, as he concluded that “in the field of public education, the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal” (“Brown v. Board (1964)”).
Finally, the landmark case was influential in advancing the Civil Rights Movement which would take place in America. Brown v. Board, more importantly than simply declaring an end to segregation of public schools, raised awareness of the issue of racial discrimination. In this way, it acted as a “catalyst” for the Civil Rights Movement (Garbus 159). Because segregation was so ingrained into law, people did not give second thought to the immoral treatment of other races. Thus, the first step to advancing the fight for human rights of African-Americans was to explicitly make their equal treatment legal. The case was mostly made by lawyer Thurgood Marshall, an African American lawyer hired by the NAACP as a part of the prosecuting team. His ability to argue the case in favor of the plaintiffs made him “arguably the most instrumental in the [civil rights] movement's achievements toward racial equality” (Biography.com Editors) because he gave the fight for African-American Civil Rights the legal basis that it needed to be put into effect. It was only ten years later in 1964, that the Civil Rights Act was written into law (Smith). The lasting influence of Brown v. Board of Education is displayed in the role it played in igniting the Civil Rights Movement in the United States, as it raised awareness for the issue of racial inequality and inspired others to stand up for what they believed was right.
As much as Brown v Board of Education aided the Civil Rights cause, it can be argued that the case was ineffective in progressing Civil Rights for African-Americans due to the existence of southern states that still refused to agree to desegregate schools. Virginia began a “massive resistance” to the Supreme Court’s decision, as they decided that they would rather shut down public schools than integrate the races (Lechner). Despite this, Brown set a precedent across the United States for ending legal and systematic racial segregation. It was now written into law that segregation was unconstitutional, and eventually states would be forced to obey. Brown II, a follow up case, also included the phrase “with all deliberate speed” (“Brown v. Board of Education (1955)”) in regards to desegregating school, enforcing the beliefs of the Supreme Court that integration needed to be put in place. Despite the efforts to enforce a speedy end to racial segregation, some public schools in the South did not start to desegregate “until the late 1960s” (Duignan). However, the importance of Brown v. Board lies in the notions it set forth. It was now put in place that the Supreme Court believed racial segregation to be “inherently unequal” (“Brown v. Board of Education (1954)”), and the Civil Rights leaders that rose from the inspiration of Brown would continue to enforce the idea that racial discrimination had to end. Therefore, despite the inability to immediately put desegregation in place, Brown was important in delivering the understanding that racial prejudice was morally unjust.
Unfortunately, Brown v. Board of Education didn’t suddenly fix all the problems that African-Americans faced, but it was able to show a new side to laws regarding racial segregation. The constitution held that all citizens should be equal, which included African-Americans. The effectiveness of this case in progressing civil rights lay in the awareness it raised. The case of Brown v. Boardshowed that racial segregation in the United States not only was unconstitutional, but violated basic human rights. It progressed an end to racism and advanced African American civil rights, while also showing that the law could be interpreted in terms of its morality and not just what is legal. Even now, over 60 years after this case and the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement, racism still exists. The country only progresses, however, through people who take risks and are able to speak up against what they know to be unjust.