Brown v. Board of Education Ronald Still Embry Riddle Aeronautical University Brown v. Board of Education Background The Supreme Court case of Brown v. Board of Education dates back to 1954, the case was centered on the Fourteenth Amendment and challenged the segregation of schools solely on the basis of race. The Brown case was not the only case of its time involving school segregation, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was leading the push to desegregate public schools in the United States (Gold, 2005). Brown v. Board of Education was a consolidation of four cases that had made their way through the court system. It was 1950 and Linda brown was just seven years old, she lived in Topeka, …show more content…
As a result of the Civil War the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments to the constitution were ratified. The 14th Amendment conferred citizenship on formerly enslaved African Americans and granted equal protection under the law (Background Overview and Summary). The Fourteenth Amendment states; No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. (U.S Const. amend. XIV) The question within the Fourteenth Amendment was; does the segregation of children in public schools solely on the basis of race deprive the minority children of “equal protection of the laws” under the amendment (Brown v. Board of Education, 1954). In1896 when the Plessy v. Ferguson case was argued and the opinion of the Court was written by Justice Henry Billings Brown the “separate but equal” doctrine was established. Justice Henry Billings wrote; We think the enforced separation of the races, as applied to the internal commerce of the state, neither abridges the privileges or immunities of the colored man, deprives him of his property without the due process of law, nor denies him the equal protection of the laws, within the meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment. (Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896) Courts Ruling The Court would
Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment which made segregation illegal. Eventually, the Supreme Court came to the conclusion that separate public facilities were “inherently unequal” (McBride 1). Brown vs. Board challenged and signaled the end of Jim Crow and “separate but equal” clause.
shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of
The 13th Amendment says that "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction." Formally abolishing slavery in the United States, the 13th Amendment was passed by the Congress on January 31, 1865, and ratified by the states on December 6, 1865. This amendment was unique and different from the other amendments which are the 14th and 15th. The 13th amendment abolished slavery, but the 14th was unique also because it overturned the Dred Scott decision, and it counted all citizens, including slaves, as citizens in the US. The 15th amendment gave African Americans the right to vote.
Plessey vs Ferguson- Decision by the US Supreme Court that confirmed the principle of “separate but equal” and minority segregation.
The case Brown v. Board of Ed originated from African Americans desiring to be enrolled into the white public schools in their area. Schools were segregated under the separate but equal doctrine established in the court case Plessy v. Ferguson. The African Americans felt that their schools were not equal and that they were deprived of the protection of their fourteenth amendment that states “All persons born or naturalized in the
amendment is the presumption that states must make sure that people have equal protection of the
The case of Plessy v. Ferguson was a major court case that lead to discrimination against blacks even during the period of "equality." Homer Plessy was 7/8 white and decided to sit in the white section of the train. Immediately, the conductor challenged him and Plessy was arrested and charged with breaking the law made by the state. Embarrassed and offended, Plessy took the case to court and the Supreme Court ruled against Plessy with the verdict of "separate but equal" (Plessy v. Ferguson). However, "Separate" was the only thing many whites heard after this verdict, the situations were nothing to "but equal". White people showed an
Our 14th amendment is perhaps the most important amendment because it helps defend some of our fundamental rights. This amendment extends the due process procedure to all citizens when trying to deprive them of life, liberty, or property. The amendment also ensures that everyone born in the United States or naturalized is guaranteed citizenship. This helped grant the right to vote for many americans who before were excluded from this right. It was ratified on july 9th in 1868 following the civil war along with 13th and 15th amendment. These are known as the civil war amendments and had to be accepted by the southern states in order for them to be brought back into the union. The 14th amendment in particular was designed to protect the basic civil rights granted in the constitution to all americans. However a lot of issues have arose over time in regarding the 14th amendment equal protection clause. Movements like Black Lives Matter have brought forth some of these issues happening today. The supreme court has made interpretations of the 14th amendment in cases like Plessy vs Ferguson, Brown vs the Board of Education, and even in when overturning the case Dred Scott vs Sanford. To better understand the 14th amendment’s equal protection clause we have to take a closer look at the interpretations made by the supreme court to
The basic issue in Brown vs. Board of Education was the beginning of integration in the school system. Trial transcripts, interviews, meet the browns, and segregated Topeka will be used to support evidence and opinions in this paper. Due to the decisions made in The Brown vs. Board of Education it changed who could attend with diversity in schools and continues to change schools to this day. After reading this paper, it should show that all people should be treated equally. Just because a person’s skin color was different than another person’s doesn’t mean they should have had to go to another school or be treated any differently.
The Brown vs. Board of Education case was first filed in 1951 and was reargued in court until 1953 when it was taken to Supreme Court. The case demanded that the Topeka school district change its racial segregation policy. Brown vs. Board was made up of multiple cases each wanting integration for different reasons. One of them, Briggs vs. Elliott, demanded desegregation because it declared racial segregation in
without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use without just
Brown v. Board of Education started when Linda Carol Brown went to a white school. Linda Brown, who was born in 1943, became a part of civil rights history as a third grader in the public schools of Topeka, KS. Her parents moved into a white neighborhood and all the white American closed their curtains when they arrived to the house. When it was time for Lind to go to school, she had to walk twelve blocks to arrive at her all-black school. Linda wanted to go to a white school because it was much closer to her house and it is just one block away. Her parents went to the white school to
In the United States Constitution, the Fourteenth Amendment states “No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” (Law.Cornell) Many of the cases that have been addressed in the Supreme Court book, written by Jack Fruchtman Jr., show the readers the rulings of the case and if either the Due Process of Law and the Equal Protection of the laws has or has not been applied.
?No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.??Amendment XIV to U.S. Constitution
No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. (14th Amendment)