The Board of Education Decision - Research Paper Example

The Board of Education Decision Historically, the U.S. is one country that practiced racial discrimination for a very long time (Patterson 3). Racial discrimination was particularly directed toward the African-American population, which was considered inferior to their white counterparts. As such, they were expected to work as slaves on farms owned by the white Americans in the south. Racial discrimination was also very rife in other areas such as schools, workplaces and transport systems, just to name but a few. It is surprising that racial discrimination was considered legal even after petitioning for the abolition of laws legalizing racial segregation. This was evident when the Supreme Court upheld the segregationist law in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) thereby legalizing racial segregation throughout the country (Patterson 4). This continued until the 1940s, when the African-Americans decided that it was enough to be segregated against and began forming civil rights movement to champion for equality and desegregation. The effort of the civil rights movement was rewarded in 1954. It managed to win, through a judicial process, Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, when the Supreme Court stated that racial discrimination in schools is illegal (Hunt par. 2). This ruling has since then been considered the most significant in U.S. history as far as the struggle for equality and desegregation is concerned. This paper will discuss why the decision on Brown v. Board of Education is considered the most important legal action related to 1950’s and 1960’s civil rights movement. Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka’s ruling in 1954 is arguably the most important judicial ruling that overruled the segregation laws legalized in Plessy V. Ferguson that had earlier upheld the segregation laws separating black and whites by establishing and upholding the doctrine of ‘separate-but-equal’ rule (Patterson 12). This doctrine had considered racial segregation legal in the U.S. despite uproar and discontent from the blacks who suffered greatly because of its constitutionality (Kluger 6). In Brown’s case, the Supreme Court ruled that racial segregation in school was in violation of the ‘Equal Protection Clause’ as per the Fourth amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which clearly stated that every U.S. citizen has a right to be protected by law. As such, the Supreme Court unanimously pronounced the separate educational facilities advocated for by the whites as being innately unequal, thereby directing its abolishment (Kluger 6). In addition, the court also found that racial segregation in schools denied African-Americans the right to equal and affordable education, which negatively impacted on their welfare and by extension, that of the society according to Kluger (7). The ruling immediately saw African-Americans begin to attend the schools that were a preserve of the whites (Irons 46). To demonstrate the importance of the decision was the admission of the nine black American students commonly referred to as the “Little Rock Nine” into a purely white segregated school known as the Little Rock’s Central High school (Levine 13). Desegregation laws then began spreading all over the country despite the cry from the whites who were very much opposed to Brown’s ruling. In fact, at the beginning, violence was very high in schools when whites attempted to bar the Black Americans from attending their schools, as they still perceived blacks as secondary citizens who dis not deserve to sit with them in the same school. Whitman reveals that the impacts of the National Association for the advancement of Colored People (NAAP) soon grew, fighting for the implementation of Brown’s rule in all schools (91). This became a reality as the whites bowed down to pressure from the civil rights movement led by people like Martin Luther King junior and his colleagues. Whitman notes that it is through this landmark ruling that the U.S. is now free of racial segregation in schools (91). Probably segregation could still be in existence if this important ruling could not have been made Brown’s ruling is also considered very significant because it acts as a precedence for subsequent court rulings since it created a way for the enactments of other Civil Rights Acts, which put to a stop the de jure segregation as a whole (Whitman 102). For instance, it was evident that the U.S. courts employed Brown’s principle in subsequent judicial decisions to reverse racial segregation in other areas as well. For instance, racial segregation used to be effected in most public places and facilities such as vehicles, bathrooms and trains, just to name but a few as was evident when Rosa Park, an African American was arrested in 1955 for refusing to give out his seat to a white passenger (Kluger 48). It is also reported that he was fined fourteen dollars for not respecting the city rules. This created uproar from African Bus riders who decided to boycott Montgomery buses. Through petition, the African Americans also managed to emerge victorious when the courts quashed all the laws legalizing racial segregation in all public places as well as those that compromised the black American’s rights. In this regard, it can be argued that Brown’s ruling signifies a huge win to African Americans as it enabled them be regarded equal to the white Americans through the recognition of their civil rights. Some have considered the Brown ruling Supreme Court’s judicial activisms since it saw Justice Earl Warren continue to lead the U.S. court till 1969 (Kluger 53). Slavery was also another civil right violation that African Americans used to be subjected to in most parts of the country with the south being the epicenter of the vice (Patterson 14). During slavery, it is reported that African Americans used to be subjected to hard labor without pay by the white settlers. Some worked for the whites in industries while others worked domestically as slaves in homes homed by whites. This resulted from the implementation of the Jim Crow laws that instituted racial discrimination in the southern part of the country as a way of keeping Black Americans from enjoying their civil rights (Patterson 18). It is reported that the Jim Crow law prevented African Americans from voting, restricted their movements, prevented them from sharing public facilities, and forbade them from engaging in interracial marriage (Irons 46). Nevertheless, all these form of human rights injustices were abolished out of precedence that had been set in 1954 in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka’s ruling. The decision in Brown v. Board of Education is also said to have contributed to the end of slavery in the south thereby enabling African Americans to begin interracial marriage, sharing public facilities with the whites, voting, as well as to enjoy their freedom of movement (Hunt Par. 3). It is certainly because of the ruling in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka that African Americans can nowadays be heard in all circles be it in economic, social or political scene (Patterson 106). Take, for example, President Barack Obama, whose father is said to be of African origin from a remote place in Kenya, rose against all odds to become the President of the United States of America. Certainly, no one could have thought of an African American becoming the president of the United States then. Nevertheless, all credit is given to the civil rights movements and their historical, judicial triumph in Brown v. Board of Education. As a result of the ruling equality and racial harmony throughout the country came into being according to Hunt (par. 5) Conclusion Indeed, Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka ruling was the most important legal action related to the 1950's and 1960's civil rights movement. This is because it abolished the Plessy v, Ferguson (1896), which legalized racial segregation in schools. In addition, it set precedence for other judicial rulings, which subsequently abolished all the other forms of racial discrimination. Certainly, this ruling is what had made the U.S. a better place to live in, free of racial segregation or discrimination. Work Cited Hunt, James L. "Brown v. Board of Education after Fifty Years: Context and Synopsis." Mercer Law Review 52, 2001. Irons, Peter H. Jim Crow's Children: The Broken Promise of the Brown Decision. New York: Viking. 2002 Print. Kluger, Richard. Simple Justice: The History of Brown v. Board of Education and Black America's Struggle for Equality. New York: Knopf. 1975 Print. Levine, Ellen, Freedom's Children. New York: Avon Flare. 1994 Print. Patterson, James T. Brown v. Board of Education: A Civil Rights Milestone and Its Troubled Legacy. New York: Oxford Univ. Press. 2001 Print. Whitman, Mark, Removing a Badge of Slavery: The Record of Brown v. Board of Education. Princeton, N.J: Wiener. 1993 Print. Read More