The Case Of The Brown V. Board Of Education?

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“We must make the federal government a friendly vigilant defender of the rights and equality of all Americans.” The NAACP addressed this notion in 1947 regarding their civil rights for racial equality in public schools during conservative American angst. Brown v. Board of Education was the famous case in 1954, in which the U.S. Supreme Court declared racial segregation in public schools as unconstitutional. These cases served as crucial steps in ending segregation. Many individuals put their lives in danger in these cases especially African Americans and their attorneys fighting for their equality. The “separate but equal” doctrine, which appeared after the 1896 case Plessy v. Ferguson, played a major factor in the rulings determined in “It should be unlawful for pupils of one race to attend the schools provided by boards of trustees for persons of another race,” read Section 5377 of the Code of Laws of South Carolina in 1942. South Carolina, like Delaware, required school segregation. The case to challenge this statute was Briggs v. Elliot. This case was filed in 1948 because African American students in South Carolina, at this time, did not have buses to transport them to and from school, therefore, many black students had to walk up to eight miles to get to school. Parents of these students purchased a second hand bus to transport the kids, but were unable to afford the costs of maintenance and repairs for the bus. After being denied by the superintendent R.M. Elliot of their request for at least one bus for their children, they file a lawsuit with the help of the NAACP, claiming African American students deserve at least one bus for transportation to and from school. The plaintiffs lost in the first case and later filed a second case, but this time, regarding absolute equality instead of buses. Trial court finds the separate schools inferior and orders schools to be equalized, but denies the black students admissions to the white school. The U.S. Supreme Court then voids the judgment of the lower court and sends back the case to determine whether the schools have actually been equalized. The lower Board of Education of Topeka was considered a landmark United States Supreme Court case, in which segregation in public schools between blacks and whites was declared unconstitutional. This case overturned the horrendous “separate but equal” statute that was established in 1863 in the United States Supreme Court case of Plessy v. Ferguson. Parents of twenty African American students who attended elementary school in the Topeka school district filed this case. They called for the school district to reverse its policy on racial segregation in schools. The lower court admits that segregation in schools is detrimental to African American children, but still denies the plaintiffs relief saying that the schools are separate but substantially equal regarding the buildings, transportation, curriculum, and educational qualifications of teachers. Disappointed by the outcome the plaintiffs file an appeal and the case is brought before the United States Supreme Court. Having Thurgood Marshall as one of the justices of the Supreme Court defiantly worked in favor of the plaintiffs in this case. Marshall fought hard to end racial segregation in schools claiming it was only in favor of white Americans, who fought to have African Americans remain treated as nothing more than slaves. However, the Supreme Court was unable to reach a decision in the spring of 1953 with the court being divided in this case, so it was not until the fall of 1953 that the case was reheard and

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