Brown v. Board: Ending School Segregation in America

In this case the supreme court decided that separating children based on their race in public schools was unconstitutional. This case was argued on December 9, 1952 and then once again reargued December 8, 1953. The case was finally decided on May 17, 1954 in an unanimous decision. This was the end to legalized racial segregation in school of the United States. Chief Justice Warren delivered the opinion of the court. This case overruled the “separate but equal” principle set in the Plessy v. Ferguson case in 1896. Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka ruled that segregation of public school were a violation of the 14th amendment. The 14th amendment states, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction

In the previous 60 years in the United States everything had been racially segregated. Many blacks and whites could not even use the same public facilities like bathrooms, water fountains, etc. They could not even sit in the same sections on the buses together. During this time period in the United States white people were without a doubt the most powerful group and would always take advantage of this. This case served as a catalyst for the modern civil rights movement, inspiring education reform everywhere and forming the legal means of challenging segregation in all areas of society according to civilrights.org. After this case our society and our nation made great efforts to allowing colors into public schooling to get an education for all. Education is the most important tool to our society these days because without an education you can not make it far in our nation today. Opening the doors to all of these children to get an education really helped our society out as a whole. Education plays a huge role into how much money people earn and what kind of jobs people get. There is wealth intersectionality in our society as we talked about in lecture. People of color are more likely to be exposed to the low quality education. If a parent is well educated that means the parent gets a high paying job. With a high paying job comes with the family living in a “good” area. If you live in a good area your children will be well educated and they will grow up and this cycle will continue. On a website called americanhistory.edu it says, “Americans believe that a racially integrated, ethnically diverse society and educational system is a worthy goal.” This case has played a huge role in our society and where we are now as a