Brown vs. Board of Education (1954) was a case about public segregation that brought to the attention of the Supreme Court. Brown vs. Board of Education challenged the notion of segregation in public education. The Declaration of Independence proclaimed “All men are created equal,” however, the institution of slavery showed otherwise. The slaves were not granted rights or privileges of the Whites and were not considered citizens. Later in the years, Amendments were added to change this and to improve the legal aspects of newly freed slaves. The Thirteenth Amendment in 1865 ended slavery and the Fourteenth Amendment in 1868 grants everyone the “due process of law” and the “equal protection of the law.” The Fifteenth Amendment in 1870 gave all citizens the right to vote regardless of race.
Despite these Amendments created to help the freed slaves, African Americans were not treated on equal terms with Whites. State legislatures enacted Jim Crow Laws that led to the segregation of the races, prohibiting blacks and whites from using the same public facilities, riding the same buses or even attending the same school. Due to the ruling of Plessy v. Ferguson, the legality of Jim Crow laws and discrimination were upheld by the Supreme Court.
Plessy v. Ferguson was a case where a black man refused to give up his seat for a white person on the train in New Orleans and was arrested because he was legally required to do so by the Louisiana state Law. Plessy declared the segregation of blacks and whites on trains were in violation to the Fourteenth Amendment “equal protection clause.” The Supreme Court ruled against Plessy under the reason that “The object of the [Fourteenth] amendment was undoubtedly to enforce the equality of the two races before the law, but in the nature of things it could not have been intended to abolish distinctions based upon color, or to endorse social, as distinguished from political, equality…If one race be inferior to the other socially, the Constitution of the United States cannot put them upon the same plane” (Justice Henry Billings Brown, Majority opinion). Due to this ruling, “the separate, but equal” idea was legally enacted and upheld by many states.
Brown v. Board of Education was actually a grouping of five separate cases all concerning the issue of public education segregation. The case first came before the Supreme Court in 1952, arguing that legal segregation in public education should be abolished because it was inherently unequal and in direct violation to the “equal protection clause” from the fourteenth Amendment. The court was unable to reach a verdict, so the case was reheard again in 1953.
An interesting fact was that Chief Justice Fed Vinson died and was replaced by Gov. Earl Warren during the intervening months. The death and replacement of the chiefs may have played a crucial role in the outcome of the case because Chief Justice Warren was the first to decreed segregation in public schools as unconstitutional. It was never done before in history, thus an important fact to keep in mind.
On May 14, 1954, Chief Justice Warren stated “We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal…”
On a legal stand point, all segregated public education was no longer allowed, but the actual implementation of the legal ruling didn’t take effect immediately. The process of desegregation would take a long time, possibly many years before the segregated system was to be fully desegregated. The Supreme Court decided to proceed upon the implementation of the verdict with “all deliberate speed.”
Brown v. Board of Education was a crucial and important case because the decision was the official legal end of racial segregation in public schools. The case was responsible for starting the desegregation process and the beginning to an end of racial segregation in “all facets of public life.”
The Long lasting legacy of the decision in Brown V Board, which brought a legal end to school segregation between whites and people of color is interesting to decipher today, 60 years after the case ruling as segregation in schools persist today. The segregation in public schools witnessed today across the country can be explained by various factors such as distribution of wealth public housing, immigration trends and certain policies that have made it easier for school districts and courts to dismantle desegregation plans. The legal ramifications brought by the decisions in this case were a victory for civil rights in the U.S., however the more complex social issues that affect race have not been cured and easily contribute to the segregation in public schools today.
Students living in urban settings are among those most likely to live in a desegregated community and attend a more segregated school as economic disparities are larger in these regions. For example, In the early 1990s, the average Latino and black student attended a school where roughly a third of students were low income, but now attend schools where low income students account for nearly two-thirds of their classmates. This finding reflects the trend in low-income areas becoming increasingly homogenous, and comprised of mostly Black and Latino People. This segregation based on race and class (Orfield, and Siegel-Hawley, 2012). With these disparities in place, the majority of schools in urban areas that reside in low-income communities with high concentrations of people of color with few whites also have the conditions necessary for a failing school system. With intense cultural and socio-economic differences between students, teachers and administrators, segregated schools are often subject to conflict between students and administrators along with very limited capital available to provide better schooling materials as seen in schools with predominantly white students. This situation perpetuates a trend of people of color being locked in a system that inherently prohibits them from equal quality education and integration.
Racialized policies have had a profound affect on this distribution of wealth and ultimate segregation in public school districts that hinder the accomplishments of Brown V Board. For example,In Yonkers New York, a city that boarders the Bronx in Westchester County, City council’s refusal of Section 8 vouchers to use in other areas of Yonkers aside from a designated square mile area, intensified the ghettoization of the area. By 1980, Yonkers schools were largely segregated by race, with minority schools distinctly inferior to their all white counterparts (Unites States v. Yonkers Board of Education, 1985). Integration slowed down in school districts across the nation as years passed after Brown v Board in areas such as Yonkers due to “white flight” a massive exodus of whites in urban areas to suburban areas, creating more segregate communities with schools reflecting this trend.
The effects of Brown v Board have been undoubtedly positive for students across the United States however the true potential of the decision in this case can only be realized if further Efforts made to reintegrate schools. These efforts slowed down considerably in the 1980’s and 1990’s, as time passed after brown v Board and communities seemed to become segregated “by accident” or viewed as segregated strictly based on economic reasons. However now, and in the not-so-distant future the legacy of Brown v Board ca be realized by supporting initiatives that will support reintegration along with equitable education for people of color and Whites such as Developing equitable school funding systems, creating greater accountability among school administrators and community leaders for student success, and reinforcing laws that are already in effect that promote racial and socioeconomic integration in school districts.
-Amy Cheung, Andres, & Khadil
- “Brown v. Board of Education (1954).” LII / Legal Information Institute. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Nov. 2014.
- “Brown v. Board of Education.” LII / Legal Information Institute. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Nov. 2014.
- “History of Brown v. Board of Education.” USCOURTSGOV RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Nov. 2014.
- Rothstein, Richard. “Why Our Schools Are Segregated.” Educational Leadership 70.8 (2013): 50-55. Web. <http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/may13/vol70/num08/Why-Our-Schools-Are-Segregated.aspx>.
- Orfield, Gary, and John Kucsera. “New York State’s Extreme School Segregation.” The Civil Rights Project at UCLA 5 (2014): n. pag. Web. <http://civilrightsproject.ucla.edu/research/k-12-education/integration-and-diversity/ny-norflet-report-placeholder/Kucsera-New-York-Extreme-Segregation-2014.pdf>.
- Unites States v. Yonkers Board of Education (1985) 624 F. Supp. 1276, S.D. New York
- Orfield, Gary, and Genevieve Siegel-Hawley. “E Pluribus…Separation: Deepening Double Segregation for More Students.” The Civil Rights Project at UCLA (2012): n. pag. Web. <http://civilrightsproject.ucla.edu/research/k-12-education/integration-and-diversity/mlk-national/e-pluribus…separation-deepening-double-segregation-for-more-students>.
- Blanchett, Wanda, Vincent Mumford, and Floyd Beachum. “Urban School Failure and Disproportionality in a Post-Brown Era Benign Neglect of the Constitutional Rights of Students of Color.”REMEDIAL AND SPECIAL EDUCATION 26.2 (2005): 70-81. Web.