Brown v Essay

Submitted By Danny-Levi
Words: 585
Pages: 3

Brown v. Board of Education Almost 100 year after Abraham Lincoln signs the 13th Amendment freeing slaves; freedom to the fullest was still not giving to the Blacks. Racial Segregation was found all over the country, from separate water fountains, to entrances, to even facilities like schools, movies, transportation and so on. At that time Blacks tried going to Court to claim that segregation was unconstitutional against the 14th amendment that gives citizens’ rights and equal protection. The case of Plessy v. Ferguson has ruled against their claim saying that as long it is “separate but equal”, segregation is constitutional. Approximately 60 years later Brown v. Board of Education over turned the ruling of Plessy v. Ferguson. Brown v. Board of Education was a combination of five previous cases put together by the NAACP - Brown v. Board of Education, Briggs v. Elliott, Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County, Gebhart v. Belton, and Bolling v. Sharpe. Each of these cases wanted discrimination to be unlawful and out of the five the cases Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County was the only case to be found that discrimination was unlawful. In majority of the cases, the main reasons given why “separate but equal” was not true was because, their schools had been poorly funded, and suffered from a deficient curriculum, pupil-teacher ratio, teacher training; and their buildings, transportation and teacher’s salaries were grossly inadequate. As part of showing evidence to all this, Charles Hamilton Houston who was a lawyer would take videos of the lifestyle of blacks proving that “separate but equal” was not true. The Supreme Court at first was not able to decide whether the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause prohibited the operation of separate public schools for whites and Blacks, so they asked for a rehearing later that year. Chief Justice Earl Warren presented a simple argument that the only reason to keep segregation was if you honestly believe you are greater then the Negroes. Furthermore Warren added that they should over rule the ruling of Plessy v. Ferguson and to do all this as a whole – 9 to 0 – to avoid resistance from the south. The Court came out saying "separate but equal" has no place… that it was unequal and was against the Fourteenth