Separate but Equal
Brown vs.
Board of Education
1954



The NAACP in Topeka, Kansas was concerned over the policy of seperate but equal. The grade schools in Topeka were seperate. Whites in one, and Negros in the other. The NAACP found 13 parents with 20 children in the black school system and had them enroll in the near by white school. All were denied. This gave them a reason to file a suit. It is called Brown because Oliver Brown participated on behalf of his daughter Linda (Marshall).
The Counrt cited the 1896 of Plessy vs. Ferguson that declared that the constitution allowed seperate but equal facilities. The attouney's appealed the case and finally the case made it to the Supreme Court. This case was gropued together with four other cases filed against seperate schools. The case was based on two claims.
  1. The facilities at black schoolsare not as good as those at white schools. Therefore the black students are being denied the "euqal protection of the laws" guaranteed by the fourteenth amendment.
  2. The very institution of segregated schools is a violation of black students' right to equal protection.
The Brown case had its roots in enslavement of Blacks. The thirteenth amendment adopted in 1865 abolished slavery from the U.S., but discrimination continued for several years following. "God almighty drew the color line and it cannot be obliterated."

On May 17, 1954 the court ruled unanimously to overturn Plessy vs. Ferguson. "Seperate educational facilities are inherently unequal (Warren). The combining of schools was ordered to happen "with all deliberate speed. The Supreme Court finally lost patience with the states who had chosen to not change "delays in desegregating school systems are no longer tollerable."

Despite the problems, complaints, and violence surrounding the Brown case, the decision is widely considered "one of the most humane acts in our histyory." The importance of this case is more symbolic than practical. By declaring an end to the governmental support of segregation, the ruling gave a boost to the civil rights movement. "The decision held out the promise of equality for blacks and gave Congress the courage to enact laws that would help to fulfill those promises."


"The Supreme Court has spoken and I am sworn to uphold the constitutional process in this country (Eisenhower)."

By Cami Ruesch