Issue: Racial Segregation in Public Schools
Photograph courtesy of UPI / Corbis-Bettmann
Thurgood Marshall with James Nabrit Jr. and George E.C. Hayes
after their victory in the Brown v. Board of Education case
before the Supreme Court, May 17, 1954.
Background
Thomas Jefferson was a champion of universal education for all citizens,
but in the culture in which he wrote, black slaves were not considered
citizens. Jefferson saw the institution of slavery as an evil, even though
he continued the practice of slave ownership. Jefferson's own contradictory actions toward
his slaves were symbolic of the paradox that would describe race relations
and equality in education for African-Americans. The nation would have
to suffer through a bloody civil war and over one hundred years of racial
strife to arrive at a time when a more equitable education could be available to all Americans.
The landmark Supreme Court case of Brown v. Board of Education (1954) settled
the question of whether or not blacks and whites can receive an
education integrated with or separate from each other. The case overturned
the 1896 case of Plessy v. Ferguson, which established the doctrine
of "separate but equal." This concept stated that separate public facilities of
equal quality do not violate the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth
Amendment of the Constitution, which reads:
Selected Historic Decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court -
http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/cases/historic.htm
The high court ruled unanimously to overturn the Plessy v. Ferguson decision. The decision of
the court was delivered by Chief Justice Earl Warren. After outlining the facts of the case and
history of the Court's thinking on the "separate but equal" doctrine, Warren stressed the
importance of education in the consciousness of American life:
We come then to the question presented: Does segregation of children in public schools
solely on the basis of race, even though the physical facilities and other "tangible" factors
may be equal, deprive the children of the minority group of equal educational
opportunities? We believe that it does."
The Brown case signaled the end of "de jure" segregation in the United States, that is,
segregation of public places that is mandated by law. Once the Brown decision was handed
down, the African-American community, along with forward-thinking white Americans, placed
sufficient pressure on the legal and political system to bring an end to state-supported
segregation in all public facilities within twenty years through the Civil Rights Movement, led
by Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. The nation paid a high price for its moral conversion in the
form of riots, assassination, and additional government programs to enforce the Court's decision
such as court-ordered busing and affirmative action. Americans soon found that Congress and
the Courts were unable to change the attitudes of Americans in respect to race relations.
Certainly, America moved toward the ideals of equality and justice in the public arena, but as
seen in the race riots of the 1960s and the civil disturbances in Los Angeles in 1992, the inner
life of the nation is still resistant to change.
Race hatred and violence have not been completely eradicated
since the Brown decision. Indeed, another type of segregation can still be seen in many schools and
neighborhoods. It is known as "de facto" segregation, and it results from prejudices and stereotypes that separate our communities. Nevertheless, it was the
Court's mandate in Brown v. Board of Education that forced Americans to face each
other and determine if they were willing to live up to the ideals that are written in the Constitution.
In essence, this is the same dilemma that Jefferson faced in his time.
What evidence can you gather that the United States has made progress in its efforts to apply Jefferson's words that "all men are created equal?" What evidence is there that this concept has not been fully realized?
What can you do to eliminate prejudices and stereotypes?
Further Internet Study
The Issue Before the Court
Ruling
Summary and Excerpt of Ruling
Results of the Ruling
Discussion Ideas
Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens
of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. 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.
Linda Brown was an eight year old black child who had to cross Topeka, Kansas to attend grade
school, while her white friends were able to attend classes at a public school just a few blocks
away. The Topeka School system was segregated on the basis of race, and under the separate but
equal doctrine, this arrangement was acceptable and legal. Linda's parents sued in federal
district court on the basis that separate facilities for blacks were inherently unequal. The lower
courts agreed with the school system that if the facilities were equal, the child was being treated
equally with whites as prescribed by the Fourteenth Amendment. The Browns and other families
in other school systems appealed to the Supreme Court that even facilities that were physically
equal did not take into account "intangible" factors, and that segregation itself has a deleterious
effect on the education of black children. Their case was encouraged by the National
Association For the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and was argued before the
Supreme Court by Thurgood Marshall, who would later become the first black justice on the
Supreme Court.
Does racial segregation of children in public schools deprive minority children of equal
protection of the laws under the Fourteenth Amendment?
Supreme Court Ruling: The Supreme Court ruled unanimously to end racial segregation in public schools.
"Today, education is perhaps the most important function of state and local governments.
Compulsory school attendance laws and the great expenditures for education both
demonstrate our recognition of the importance of education to our democratic society. It
is required in the performance of our most basic public responsibilities, even service in
the armed forces. It is the very foundation of good citizenship. Today it is a principal
instrument in awakening the child to cultural values, in preparing him for later
professional training, and in helping him to adjust normally to his environment. In these
days, it is doubtful that any child may reasonably be expected to succeed in life if he is
denied the opportunity of an education. Such an opportunity, where the state has
undertaken to provide it, is a right which must be made available to all on equal terms.
The rational of the Court's decision was based on the dehumanizing effects of segregation:
"Segregation of white and colored children in public schools has a detrimental effect upon
the colored children. The impact is greater when it has the sanction of the law, for the
policy of separating the races is usually interpreted as denoting the inferiority of the
negro group. A sense of inferiority affects the motivation of a child to learn. Segregation
with the sanction of law, therefore, has a tendency to [retard] the educational and mental
development of negro children and to deprive them of some of the benefits they would
receive in a racial[ly] integrated school system."
The basis of the decision rests on the Equal Protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment,
which applies the standard of equality to the actions of the states as well as the Federal
government in a concept known in legal circles as "incorporation." Warren wrote:
"We conclude that, in the field of public education, the doctrine of "separate but equal"
has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal. Therefore, we hold
that the plaintiffs and others similarly situated for whom the actions have been brought
are, by reason of the segregation complained of, deprived of the equal protection of the
laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment."
Results of the Ruling: