Brown v. board of eduction - Essay Example

HERE YOUR HERE HERE HERE Opinion Paper: Brown v. Board of Education Chief Justice Warren makes a very quality argument. He speaks directly of the 14th Amendment which is supposed to give equal protection to everyone (Elbel 1). However the language of the Amendment at the time did not talk about race which makes it difficult to interpret to meet with equal protection for blacks and whites. Six different cases are cited in the case study. This shows that there was a great deal of confusion about what is meant by “separate but equal”.

In Plessy v. Ferguson of 1896, the Negro plaintiff lost by a seven-to-one vote which said that the state of Louisiana did not violate the 14th Amendment by forcing blacks to be segregated on railroad trains (Reckdahl 1). All of the other cases that are cited show that the courts were aware that there were many people in society pressuring the legal system about “separate versus equal”. This goes against the desired code of the 14th Amendment. Finally Justice Warren and other judges realized that Negros deserved to gain education and the other case decisions could not give good reasons why blacks should continue to be segregated.

The right to education is deserved for everyone regardless of their race and color. What Justice Warren is saying is that there have been many changes in society since the 1800s. It no longer made sense with a society that was developing for blacks to continue to be segregated in schools. Without having equal protections for education, they would always be thought as second class citizens. This court in Brown v. Board of Education did an excellent job of using education as a reason to finally begin the process of ending racial segregation.

Works CitedElbel, Fred. The U.S. Constitution: 14th Amendment. 2013. Web. June 18, 2013. Reckdahl, Katy. Plessy and Ferguson unveil plaque today marking their ancestors’ actions. The Times Picayune. February 11, 2009. Web. June 18, 2013.