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Who Was Involved in Brown v. Board of Education?
The landmark case of Brown v. Board of Education was decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1954. The case overturned the “separate but equal” doctrine that had been established by the court in the 1896 case of Plessy v. Ferguson.
The plaintiffs in Brown v. Board of Education were a group of African American children who were attending segregated schools in Topeka, Kansas.
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Introduction
Brown v. Board of Education was a landmark United States Supreme Court case in which the Court declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students to be unconstitutional. The case originated in Topeka, Kansas, where African American children were denied admission to the city’s white public schools. A class action lawsuit was filed on their behalf, and the case was eventually heard by the Supreme Court.
In its ruling, the Court determined that segregation of public schools was a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution. The decision resulted in a nationwide ban on school segregation, and helped to bring about an end to Jim Crow laws.
The plaintiffs in Brown v. Board of Education were a group of African American children and their parents from Topeka, Kansas. The children had been denied admission to the city’s white public schools and were instead attending segregated black schools.
The case was originally filed as four separate lawsuits: Oliver L. Brown et al. v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas; Darlene Brown et al. v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas; Lucille Mabry et al. v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas; and George W., Hattie McLean, et al. v Consolidated School District No. 403, Shawnee County, Kansas et al.. The cases were consolidated into one before being heard by the Supreme Court.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs included Thurgood Marshall and Spottswood Robinson III. Marshall would later go on to become a Supreme Court Justice himself.
The defendants in the case were various school boards and officials from Kansas who were responsible for enforcing segregation in public schools.
The Players
In order to understand the decision in Brown v. Board of Education, it is important to know who was involved in the case. The case was originally decided by the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas. The plaintiffs in the case were a group of black parents who were represented by the NAACP.
Oliver Brown
Oliver Brown was the lead plaintiff in the Brown v. Board of Education lawsuit. He was a father of eight from Topeka, Kansas. In 1951, he attempted to enroll his daughter, Linda, in the all-white Sumner School. Although he met all of the qualifications for admission, he was denied because of Linda’s race.
Brown decided to take action and contacted the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The NAACP put him in touch with attorneys Charles Horman and Dennis Doyle. With their help, he filed a lawsuit against the Topeka Board of Education on February 28, 1951. The case was eventually combined with four other cases from South Carolina, Virginia, and Delaware and became known as Brown v. Board of Education.
After years of legal battles, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Oliver Brown and the other plaintiffs on May 17, 1954. The Court’s decision declared that segregated schools were unconstitutional and paved the way for integrated schools throughout America.
Linda Brown
Linda Brown was a third-grader when her father, Oliver Brown, attempted to enroll her in the all-white Sumner Elementary School in Topeka, Kansas. He was turned away, and the Browns became plaintiffs in one of the five cases that were combined into Brown v. Board of Education.
Linda Brown continued to fight for racial equality after the landmark ruling. Including working to desegregate schools in her hometown of Topeka, Kansas.
In 1979, she co-founded the Brown Foundation for Educational Equity, Excellence and Research. The foundation’s mission is “to finish what Linda started” by providing resources and support to educational initiatives that promote racial equity.
Topeka, Kansas
On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court announced its decision in the case of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. The Court unanimously ruled that it is unconstitutional to separate children in public schools on the basis of race.
The case originated in 1951, when a young African American girl named Linda Brown had to walk one mile through a railroad switchyard to get to her all-black elementary school, even though a white school was only seven blocks from her home. Linda’s father, Oliver Brown, decided to file a lawsuit against the Topeka Board of Education on behalf of his daughter and 20 other black children who were attending all-black segregated schools in the area. The case was one of five similar lawsuits that were combined and heard by the Supreme Court as Brown v. Board of Education.
In its ruling, the Supreme Court declared that “separate but equal” educational facilities are inherently unequal and ordered school districts to desegregate “with all deliberate speed.” The decision overturned the court’s earlier ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), which had established “separate but equal” as the law of the land with regard to public facilities and accommodations.
The Board of Education
The Board of Education was the school board that was being sued in the case. This Board was responsible for the maintenance and management of public schools in Topeka, Kansas. The Board consisted of five members who were elected by the people living in the district served by the Board.
The Case
Brown v. Board of Education was a Landmark Supreme Court case in which the Court ruled that segregated public schools were unconstitutional. The case originated in Topeka, Kansas, where a black girl named Linda Brown was denied admission to her neighborhood public school because she was black. Linda’s father, Oliver Brown, tried to enroll her in another school that was further away from her home, but the district would not allow it.
The Plessy Decision
The Plessy decision was overturned in 1954 by the Brown v. Board of Education decision. But who was Plessy, and what was his case about?
Plessy v. Ferguson was a Supreme Court case that decided that “separate but equal” accommodations were constitutional. This practice had been in place for years, especially in the South where public facilities were segregated by race.
Plessy, an African American man, was arrested for sitting in the “White only” car of a train. He argued that this violated his 13th and 14th amendment rights, but the Supreme Court disagreed. They said that as long as the facilities were equal, segregation was allowed.
This decision led to increased segregation and Jim Crow laws throughout the United States. It wasn’t until the Brown v. Board of Education decision that these “separate but equal” laws were overturned and segregation in public places was deemed unconstitutional.
The Decision
On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court issued its unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. The Court held that the “separate but equal” doctrine established by the Court’s decision in Plessy v. Ferguson was unconstitutional and that racial segregation in public schools violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
TheBrown v. Board of Education decision overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896, which had allowed state-sponsored segregation, ruling that such segregation violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S Constitution. This ruling paved the way for integration and the end of Jim Crow laws.
Aftermath
Even after the decision had been rendered, the fight for desegregation was far from over. Many schools in the South continued to resist integration, often with violence. In some cases, courts had to step in and issue desegregation orders. The Supreme Court also had to issue a number of follow-up rulings in order to clarify and enforce the Brown decision.
Implementation
After the decision was announced, the school district immediately filed for a rehearing, arguing that implementation would be too difficult. The court denied the request, and on May 31, 1955 issued its Implementation Order. In it, the court set a deadline of September 1956 for desegregation “with all deliberate speed.” The order also authorized federal district courts to appoint “masters” to oversee desegregation efforts.
Segregation Today
Although the Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education officially ended segregation in America’s public schools, the reality is that many schools are still segregated today. In fact, a recent study found that nearly half of all American students attend schools that are either majority-minority or majority-white.
There are a number of factors that contribute to school segregation, including housing patterns, school district boundaries, and parental choice. And while some argue that school segregation is not necessarily a bad thing, others point to the fact that segregated schools are often unequal, with minority and low-income students attending schools that are underfunded and have fewer resources.
So while Brown v. Board of Education may have been a watershed moment in American history, the fight for truly integrated schools is far from over.
