Unit Three Assessment
Brown V Board of Education
Historical Context
In the early 1950s blacks and whites were seperated school wise aswell as other ways. Since the Jim Crow law was still in effect in the South the black education wasn't as proper as white education. Some of the schools for black kids were funded less than white kid schools were. Black kids were also pulled out of school if the racist farmer believed the kid didn't deserve school or if the kid was needed on the farm. There were also less schools for black kids, if a town could only afford one they would have a white school. Even if a lucky child got into a school the schools, according to America's Black Holocaust Museum, had, "leaking roofs, sagging floors, and windows without glass." some, if they had books, had hand me down books from white schools. The Plessy V Ferguson case also affected this case because they realized how this was becoming a problem.
Facts of the Case
Racial segregation was still a problem in the early to mid 1900s and an organization the NAACP(National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) and head of the organization Charles Hamiliton Houston wanted to strike down the Jim Crow laws where they had the least support, the racial segregated education, because he grew tired of the, mainly south, racially biased laws,support, and treatment.
Questions Before the Court
According to Oyez, "Does the segregation of children in public schools solely on the basis of race deprive the minority children of the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the 14th Amendment?" In other words it asks, "Does segregating children in public schools by race take away equal protection of law, 14th amendment, for minority, or black, students?
What Constitutional Amendments were Involved
The 14th amendment was involves, which is equal protection for both races by law.
Court's Ruling
Yes it does, no matter the equality of schools by objectives, inevitable, while we have the "seperate but equal" laws, issues have deemed the seperation of students a huge cause of educational inequality. Overall the seperation of students by race includes inferiority to minority students' education.
Impact
Schools cannot have seperated schools due to inequality between majority and minority students. Therefore, minority students are given more rights, the right to equal protection. It also made the government more aware to inequality in seperation.
Summary Question #2
The Supreme Court changed their mind about seperation of blacks and whites. One reason for this is that people were adapting to interracial culture and were accepted blacks, this could be because it was farther from the end of the Civil War. Another reason could be that there were clear inequality shown in the seperation of the schools, like the conditions of the school. Lastly, the fact that there were cases showing up about seperation could be signaling the Supreme Court that the "separate but equal" laws were becoming a problem and were to be dealt with.