Analysis of the Case about Separate Learning Institutions - Essay Example

Black American children did not have access to learning institutions set for white children (Orlik, 2010). The lawsuit was against the District Board of Education which had established separate learning institutions for white and for black children in the district. The claimant presented to the district court in Kansas as a representative of the parents under the name of Brown who was one of the thirteen parents filling the case. Mr. Brown filed in 1951 in the United States district court.

The education board based its decision to establish separate learning institutions on Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (1896), in which the Supreme Court judge ruling allowed separate learning institutes to be established for white and for black children (Orlik, 2010). However, the bench did not make it mandatory for districts to form and establish separate institutions, though the district education board decided to establish separate institutions. The parents felt that their children were denied the opportunity to interact with their colleagues and therefore, they felt they were being treated with inferiority.

This was against the Fourteenth Amendment Equal Protection Clause, which granted all Americans legal safety regardless of their background. The civil rights movement arose to fight for equal rights for all Americans which pushed the matter to the court. Issues before the court The case was presented to the district court and the plaintiff claimant challenged the Topeka District Education Board for treating the Black-American children unfairly (Orlik, 2010). The plaintiff affirmed that having separate learning institutions for black and white people offered an opportunity for black children to be denied access to superior housing facilities, inferior services, and mistreatment.

In making the ruling, the bar questioned whether establishing different learning institutions for black and white children amounted to injustice. The other issue was whether this deprived black Americans of their legal security offered by the fourteenth Amendment Equal Protection Clause. District Court’s Ruling and Rationale The ruling by the court was that although learning institutions offered similar training, housing, and transportation facilities, having different institutions for white and black children was unfair because it had emotional damage to Black American children (Orlik, 2010).

They declared that the decision by the Supreme Court in 1986 was alright since it only allowed separate institutions for white and black children but with equal facilities, instructors, and transportation costs. The bench was undecided as to whether the 14th Amendment Equal Protection Clause forbids the establishment of different learning institutions for white and black children. Case Analysis The formation of different learning institutions for white and black children was unfair because the children could not have the freedom to interact with their age mates (Orlik, 2010).

However, they failed by deciding that separate learning institutions established by Topeka District Education Board had similar facilities. Having separate learning institutions for white and black Americans was not healthy for the black children because they will feel lesser significant than their white counterparts.