In the 1950s, Oliver Brown had challenged the Supreme Court after his daughter was denied entrance into an all-white elementary school. Brown stated that the schools were unequal which violated the equal protection clause and argued that black people were withheld equal protection of the law which violated the 14th amendment. At first, the case was undecided, but after the chief justice was replaced with Earl Warren, de-segregation had succeeded; Warren argued that segregated schools were unequal and that this deprived the laws guaranteed by the 14th amendment.
Since the supreme court had not specified the process of desegregating schools, there were controversial arguments over the subject and some states in the south even rejected the idea altogether. For example, in Little Rock, Arkansas, Governor Orval Faubus had prevented black children from entering a white school by using the national guard. This forced President Eisenhower to get involved and resulted in the use of federal troops who assisted the "Little Rock Nine." These nine black students were then able to go to school under armed protection.
As a result of the ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, the Civil Rights Movement was prompted across the US. A year later, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat which led to more demonstrations and bus boycotts which ignited the creation of new laws.
Overall, the decision in this case would help to overturn many laws re-enforcing segregation and assist with the integrating of schools. While black people continued to be unlawfully oppressed after Brown v. Board of Education, it had sparked Civil Rights Movements which would eventually be lead by Martin Luther King Jr.
Sources: https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/brown-v-board-of-education-of-topeka
An additional figure in the desegregation of schools was Ruby Bridges, the first African-American child to desegregate William-Franzt Elementary in New Orleans, Louisiana. Ironically enough, Bridges was born in the same year of the Brown v. The Board of education decision.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading her story, I realized how convoluted the desegregation process was; for example, black students had to take a test to see if they were eligible to attend a white school. It was said that the test was made more difficult so that if all the black students failed, schools in New Orleans could remain segregated. Fortunately, Bridges and six other students were able to pass the test, but she was the only child to attend William-Franzt.
Regardless of her achievements, Bridges was subject to threats, angry mobs, and psycological stress from school. The violence of the mobs were so intense that Bridges had to be escorted to and around school by US federal Marshalls, hence the iconic painting by Norman Rockwell.
By her second year, Bridges was able to walk to school on her own, and the tensions in her school lessened. Later in life, she became a civil rights activist.
Sources:
https://www.biography.com/activist/ruby-bridges
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ruby-Bridges
This post was very interesting and it gave a very thorough overview of the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court case. What's interesting to note is that Brown v. Board was actually made up of five separate cases throughout the nation. These included Belton v. Gebhart, Brown v. Board of Education, Bolling v. Sharp, Briggs v. Elliot, and Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County. These cases were all combined under "Brown v. Board of Education" and the central issue was the same: segregation in schools. One such case was Belton v. Gebhart, where black students had to ride the bus over an hour one way to be in a one room school. All these cases argued that separate but equal was not actual equal.
ReplyDeletehttps://brownvboard.org/content/combined-brown-cases-1951-54
This post was very in depth and provided a lot of good information of the Brown v. Board of Education case. At the time the Supreme Court consisted of mostly conservative judges which is why they ruled in favor of "separate but equal". However, after years of hard work the Supreme Court eventually ruled in favor of equality.
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