Brown V. Board

Can you imagine having to walk several miles just to get to school, when there’s a school directly across the street from where you live? African Americans had to do this for a very long time, until The Brown V. Board of Education was passed in 1954. This paper will discuss the causes and effect of the Brown V. Board of Education case and the effort to end desegregation.

Even after slaves were free and were able to vote, there was still segregation. Due to the Jim Crow Laws, blacks and whites weren’t able to use the same public facilities, ride the same buses and attend the same schools. During this time blacks were poor, with not enough books for learning with a class seating 40-50 students a class. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) tried to persuade congress and other legislative bodies to enact laws that would protect from lynching and other racist activity

Oliver Brown of Topeka, Kansas, was the father of Linda Brown. Linda Brown had been denied from a school just five blocks away from her home and had to travel a long way to attend school where she was accepted, because of her race. Oliver Brown decided to sue the school district of Topeka, Kansas to end segregation. The case started in 1952, was heard and then eventually elevated to the supreme courts. The Supreme Court came to a unanimous decision to end segregation in public schools.

In 1954, The Brown V. Board of Education case was solved. There would be no more segregation within the schools; those cases were handled by NAACP and Thurgood Marshall. Kenneth Clark argued that segregated school systems made black children feel lower than white children and felt that, that shouldn’t been allowed. After the attorney generals of the states failed to desegregate schools quickly enough, the Supreme Court was forced to come up with a plan on how to do it in 1955. This ruling became known as Brown II

In conclusion, traveling far just to attend school had finally ended. I was able to attend schools where ever I wanted. Several laws were even passed; there would be no more segregation between whites and blacks. Everyone was to be treated equal under the law.

Monique 10/23/14