In 1954, the United States Supreme Court was faced with the controversial Brown v. Board of Education case that challenged segregation problems in the public education system. The battle for civil rights has deep roots in American history because the fight for equal rights has been going on ever since the birth of our nation. Brown v. Board of Education was a historic milestone supreme court case because it questioned the legality and morality of allowing segregated schools in southern Jim Crow states. The case threatened to have immense ramifications for blacks and whites in America. The case is often well known for kickstarting racial integration and helping launch the mid-1900 civil rights movement.
Before the decision of Brown v. Board of Education, many individuals accepted school segregation and was required in many states. The title of the case was originally shortened from Oliver Brown et. al. v. the Board of Education of Topeka Kansas. This was because in 1951 Oliver l. Brown, his wife Darlene and eleven other African American parents filed a lawsuit against the Board of Education of Topeka Kansas and sued for denying their children the right to attend a segregated white schools. They sought out for major changes in their school district’s policy of racial segregation. The parents worked together with their local National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in order to overturn segregation in public schools.
In the fall of 1951, the parents attempted to enroll their children into the neighborhood schools but were denied admittance in the white schools and instead told to attend a segregated black school. The District Court recognized that segregation in public education had adverse effects on black children but still denied desegregating schools. The District Court confirmed the precedent established by Plessy v. Ferguson by the supreme court in 1896 and upheld “separate but equal” laws permitting/requiring segregation in public education.
The Supreme Court combined the Belton (Bulah) v. Gebhart, Bolling v. Sharpe, Brown v. Board of Education, and the Briggs v. Elliott, Davis v. County School Board cases together into the Brown v. Board of Education decision because they all had goal to attempt to end racial segregation in public schools. All the cases were NAACP-sponsored. The supreme court reviewed the case in the spring of 1953 but again asked to review the case again in the fall of that same year. This is because they wanted to give consideration to whether the segregation of public schools violated the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause that requires states to provide equal protection under the law.
In September 1953, Earl Warren was appointed Chief Justice by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. At the time, since the topic of race relations were sensitive and segregation was widely practiced the justices had to contemplate and debate what the implications of segregation would be on the right to education.
Major key influencers such as psychologists Kenneth B. Clark and Mamie P. Clarks made testimonies in the Briggs v. Elliot case explaining the doll experiments they conducted. Their experiments demonstrated how severely segregation affected self-esteem of black and white children. In the study, the Clarks introduced two dolls children who attended either segregated schools or integrated schools. The two dolls were identical with the exception of the complection of their skin and hair color. One doll was white with blonde hair and the other doll was darker skinned with black hair. When asked which doll they would rather play with, which one was nicer or prettier, they concluded that all children preferred the white doll over the brown doll . Their results helped reveal that racial segregation has dangerous repercussions and that african american children felt inferior to white counterparts. This is because they finally understood that educational segregation causes an irreversible feeling of inferiority, the Supreme Court and Chief Justice Warren changed opinions.
The Supreme Court used the Clarks’ research as evidence that the doctrine of separate but equal has no place in the field of public education. Because they were doubtful that any child could be expected to succeed in life if he/she is denied the equal opportunity of an education. Chief Justice Warren was well known for his leadership skills and his ability to manipulate the other Justices in order to achieve a majority.
When warren took his seat as Chief Justice in 1953, the other Supreme Court Justices were appointed by President FDR or President Truman. Chief justice warren assembled a meeting with the Justices and explained that only reason for upholding segregation was the belief that blacks were ultimately inferior to whites. All but one Justice disagreed with segregation. Supreme Justice Stanley Reed believed that segregation could benefit the black community. Despite their opposition to segregation not all of the justices were instantly persuaded to end the practice. Some were hesitant to overturn the Plessy v. Ferguson decision or were either unsure whether or not the Constitution gave the Supreme Court the right abolish segregation. Others even felt that segregation was a State’s rights problem. However, some Justices agreed with Chief Justice Warren and felt that the Supreme Court did have the right to intervene on issues of individual liberties.
Chief justice warren understood the importance of a unanimous decision in the Brown v. Board of education case, in order to declare state segregation laws unconstitutional. The Supreme Court needed to overturn the 1869 Plessy v. Ferguson decision which stated that segregation in public facilities did not violate the constitution as long as the facilities were “separate but equal”. Warren demanded a unanimous decision by the Supreme Court because he did not want the decision to be appealed by the states in order to send an ultimate message to the South that segregation was unconstitutional. Warren was able rally other Justices on board and finally managed Justice Reed to agree with his opinion and side with the majority.
On May 17 1954, the Supreme Court finally established a unanimous 9-0 decision. This decided that separate educational facilities are inherently unequal because it created a sense of inferiority in black children and went against the fourteenth amendment, deeming unconstitutional.
Even though Brown v. Board of education was outlawed, segregation and racism definitely did not disappear overnight. Getting every school to desegregate was a long and process that took time. it granted african american children the right to an equal education and helped to slowly undo generations of segregation and discrimination. Brown v. Board of education is a landmark supreme court case not only because it ended racial segregation but because the decision also forever changed the public view of race relations in the United States. This case set a great example for future civil rights cases and inspired people of color to stand up for their equal rights. Most importantly, it gave those of color hope that they would finally be given equal opportunity and free from discrimination.