Oliver Brown v Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas (1953)

The Brown v the Board of Education in 1954 marked the beginning of the history of The Civil Rights Movement. The Fourteenth Amendment while preventing unreasonable discrimination against a particular class of individuals remained open to interpretation by the United States Supreme Court. The Southern States passed a number of laws pertaining to segregation. The equal protection clause, initially was to prevent newly freed slaves from further discrimination after the Civil War, however, in my opinion, the separate but equal doctrine actually justified segregation in 1896. Nevertheless, the changes begin with Brown v the Board of Education 1954. The Brown v the Board of Education reversed the Plessy v Ferguson ruling. This separate but equal doctrine called for separate but equal facilities such as transportation, schools, etc. However, black children had to attend schools further from their homes rather than attending an all-white school within closer proximity. In addition, the school buildings and textbooks in the all black schools were not at all equal to those of white students. The help of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) provided for the parents (of the twenty children being represented) to sue the Board of Education which led to the court’s ruling that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. Oliver Brown was one of the parents named in the lawsuit.
Although there was a victory in the ruling, I sense there are permanent scars in our history from the segregation that took place. In my opinion, the seeds of discrimination had already taken root and feelings of hopelessness, bitterness and anger remained. To think that the school system in the United States had mandated separate schools based on race as far back as 1849 made this ruling very significant. As Americans, we are entitled to our civil rights and we are supposed to be equal under the law, however, it was not that long ago that this was certainly not the case. The Brown v the Board of Education is the epitome of racism in our country. Furthermore, I agree that the segregation of public schools based on race certainly leads to feelings of superiority for some and inferiority for others. It also has long-term effects on the self-esteem. Moreover, the psychological effects become a roadblock to learning which leads to further the divide in the minds of the students