Segregation Segregation

Does the segregation of public schools in children just on the basis of race hold back the minority kids of the equal protect that guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment?

“In the United States, the Supreme Court’s decision of 1954, outlawing segregation in school systems, was greeted with mixed feelings of hope and skepticism by African-Americans,” John Henrik Clarke (“Segregation Quotes”). This saying by John Henrik Clarke was obviously followed the landmark United States Supreme Court case, which is Brown vs. Board of Education in 1954. The case had a huge influence on children’s education and the racism that was going on during the 1950’s, as well as the history itself. At the time in Topeka, Kansas, schools were segregated. Black students

Board of Education. This case was the combination of five separate cases. However, at this time, the Supreme Court had different perspectives on the case. The biggest problem and argument was segregation of schools for white and black kids. Black and white children could not attend the same school even though in term of everything, they were all equal (“Brown vs. Board of Education”). All the African American kids, as well as color children, had to walk a far distance in order to get to the school bus stop, and took a ride of five miles just to go to the black school every morning. They all tried to get in the white school which was just about several blocks from home; however, the school principal denied giving the permit to attend the school simply because of their colors. Oliver Leon Brown was an example. He tried all his ability to provide the best for of three little daughters. He attempted to enroll Linda, his youngest kid who was a third grader at the time, to a white school which is near their home. Unfortunately, Oliver got denied and was told that his daughter could not attend a white school because of the skin tone on his and his daughter’s face color. After that, he went to the National Association for the Advancement of the Colored People (NAACP), to seek for help (“Brown vs. Board of Education (1954)”).

After appealed to the state level, the case was lost. The State Court

He believed that it was not fair for the black kids in specific and the black communities in common. Not only the kids had to walk long distance, cross the dangerous railroad just to get to the bus stop to go school, but the black society also got treated differently than the whites in public places. By all that matter, not only the local but the government as well were violated the rights of blacks that was protected under the Equal Protection Clause by the Fourteenth Amendment. On the other hand, the school argued that the Supreme Court was clearly ruled that separate but equal was constitutional under the Fourteenth Amendment (“The Supreme Court Decision that Changed a Nation, Brown vs. Board of Education”). The school used Plessy vs. Ferguson to defense themselves. The controversy was going on until May 14, 1954, three days before the Court announced the final decision.

In a unanimous 9-to-0 decision, the Warren Court all decided that the “separate but equal had no place in the Constitution” (“ Brown vs. Board of Education (I)”). It had violated the Fourteenth Amendment where everyone is treated equally regardless of race, age, religious, etc. They also said that the era of Jim Crow was over and announced that left over’s from whites to blacks were finally over. On May 17, 1954, Justice Earl Warren determined that segregation was unconstitutional and violated the Fourteenth Amendment.