Brown v. Board of Education: Another Step Towards Change

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It is eye-opening that segregation can be dated all the way back to the year of 1814. Segregation is the separation of people according to their race, religion, or other group. Laws separating people were mostly found in the South right here in the United States. In this circumstance, people were segregated based on the color of their skin. Segregation was a popular practice in its early years, and many people took it very seriously. In 1955, the Brown vs. Board of Education court incident overturned the opposing court case of Plessy vs. Ferguson that created the issue of segregation and it outlawed segregation in schools. It not only changed schools and students then, but it is still affecting the system of education today.
In the first place, segregation was brought on by one single court lawsuit that resulted in the construction of laws requiring states to be segregated. The court claim was named Plessy v. Ferguson, and it was passed on May 18, 1896. When the case was approved, it created the Jim Crow laws that legalized the separation of people, such as African-Americans and whites, in public places, which included schools. Segregation in this matter seemed to place discrimination on the African-Americans for the most part. Even though the Fourteenth Amendment was drafted and granted political rights and equality to freed slaves and all citizens, it was argued that social equality was never implied. Therefore, the Jim Crow Laws were seen as constitutional and they were even enforced. The decision of the incident came to be known as the result of a widespread series of “separate but equal” facilities being built in the name of segregation (Yanak). Segregation became one of the quickest “trends” for people to latch onto and fo...

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...outcome. After the second term was officially closed, segregation in schools had been illegal, and a new law came into play that required schools to integrate. In the end, although segregation is rarely seen, do not forget that people are still being discriminated, even in the world of today.

Works Cited
Bravin, Jess. "A Gray Area Between Black and White." Wall Street Journal. 16 Mar. 2013: A.1. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 12 May. 2014.
"History of Brown v. Board of Education." USCOURTSGOV RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 April 2014.

Landman, James H. "An End and a Beginning: The Fiftieth Anniversary of Brown v. Board..." Social Education Vol. 68 No. 1. Jan./Feb. 2004: 17+. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 10 May. 2014.
Yanak, Ted, and Pam Cornelison. "Plessy v. Ferguson." The Great American History Fact-Finder. Dec. 1 1993: n.p. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 21 Apr. 2014.

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