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From Jim Crow to Civil Rights. The Supreme Court and The Struggle for Racial Equality in Public Institutions and Facilities By Jamita Lewis April 13, 2009. Imagine if your constitutional right was denied?. Would you challenge the law?. “Test cases” prior to 1950….
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From Jim Crow to Civil Rights The Supreme Court and The Struggle for Racial Equality in Public Institutions and Facilities By Jamita Lewis April 13, 2009
Imagine if your constitutional right was denied? Would you challenge the law?
“Test cases” prior to 1950… NAACP Lawyers / General Counsel Who led various test cases
Separate Car Act 111 (1890) • In 1890, the State of Louisiana passed Act 111 that required separate accommodations for African Americans and Whites on railroads. • Act 111 specified that these accommodations must be kept “separate but equal". • Concerned, several African Americans and Whites in New Orleans formed an association, the Citizen's Committee to Test and repeal Act 111.
Challenging Street Car Act 111 Part One: Testing Act 111 Part Two: Plessy v. State of Louisiana Once in court, Plessy argued that the East Louisiana Railroad had denied him his rights under the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. The Louisiana judge presiding over Plessy case, John Howard Ferguson, ruled that Louisiana had the right to regulate railroad companies, in which the court could enforce the Street Car Act 111 on local railroad enterprises. Plessy appealed the ruling to the Supreme Court. • On June 7, 1892, African American (ethnically mixed) Homer Plessy boarded a car of the East Louisiana Railroad that was designated for use by white patrons only. • With an act of planned disobedience, Plessy refused to move to the colored car- he was arrested and jailed.
Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) • Part Three: The Outcome • The Supreme Court rejected Plessy's arguments based on the Fourteenth Amendment, seeing no way in which Street Car Act 111 violated the 14th Amendment. • Therefore, the Supreme Court contended that as long as separate facilities (including schools) for the separate races were "equal,“- segregation did not violate the Fourteenth Amendment .
Plessy v. Ferguson Impact • Segregation in schools was endorsed in 1896 by the United States Supreme Court case of Plessy v. Ferguson. • For much of the ninety years, until 1954, race in the U.S. had been dominated by racial segregation.
Why did integration in schools take so long? • Prior to 1954, the Supreme Court would not have invalidated racial segregation at an earlier date, both because: • Public opinion would not have supported such a result. • The Supreme Court Justices during the various time periods would not have found the practice of integration to be constitutionally objective.
Brown v. Board of Education Topeka, Kansas (1954) 347 U.S. 483
Introduction • Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, (1954),was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court, which overturned earlier rulings going back to Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896. • Brown v. Board of Education case declared that state laws who established separate public facilities for black and white students denied black children equal educational opportunities.
Background of Case • In the early 1950’s, separate elementary schools were operated by the Topeka Board of Education under an 1879 Kansas law, which permitted (but did not require) districts to maintain separate elementary school facilities for black and white students in twelve communities with populations over 15,000. • In 1951, a class action suit was filed against the Board of Education of the City of Topeka, Kansas in the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas. • The plaintiffs were thirteen Topeka parents on behalf of their twenty children. The suit called for the school district to reverse its policy of racial segregation. The plaintiffs were recruited by Topeka National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). • The named plaintiff, Oliver L. Brown, daughter Linda, a third grader, had to walk six blocks to her school bus stop to ride to Monroe Elementary, her segregated black school one mile (1.6 km) away, while Sumner Elementary, a white school, was seven blocks from her house. The National Chapter of the NAACP felt that having Mr. Brown at the head of the roster would be better received by the U.S. Supreme Court Justices because Mr. Brown had an intact, complete family and was a religious leader. Linda Brown was merely the "poster child,". A dozen attorneys and countless community activists were involved in the effort to eliminate "de jure" racial segregation in the public schools.
The District Court Ruling of Brown Case In the Brown v. Board case, the three-judge District Court panel found that segregation in public education has a detrimental effect upon negro children, but denied relief on the ground that the negro and white schools in Topeka were substantially equal with respect to buildings, transportation, curricular, and educational qualifications of teachers.
Supreme Court Review of Brown case • The case of Brown v. Board of Education as heard before the Supreme Court combined five cases: • Brown v. Board of Education (filed in Kansas) • Briggs v. Elliott (filed in South Carolina) • Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County (filed in Virginia) • Gebhart v. Belton (filed in Delaware) • And Bolling v. Sharpe (filed in Washington D.C). • Detail on Cases: http://brownvboard.org/summary/ • The five cases above were NAACP-sponsored cases which dealt with integration in educational facilities. Although this case talked about the hardship that affected Linda Brown, this case discussed the hardships collectively faced by all of the plaintiffs. • The Supreme Court focused a lot of attention on the psychological well-being of the children in reference to the segregation of schools.
Issue before 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 of Brown case • Handed down on May 17, 1954, the Warren Court's unanimous (9-0) decision stated that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal." As a result, de jure racial segregation was ruled a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. • This victory paved the way for integration in schools and the civil rights movement.
Brown v. Board of Education (1954)Impact on Schools • Brown v. Board of Education (1954) is a classic example of the Supreme Court safeguarding the rights of a minority group from majoritarian oppression.
Brown v. Board of Education Impact on Schools Integration De-Segregation
Supreme Court cases that strengthened the Brown v. Board of Education case (1954)
Legislation and cases (related to education) that were rooted from the Brown v. Board of Education 1954 ruling
Conclusion • Brown v. Board of Education (1954) is one of the most important decisions in the history of the United States Supreme Court. The ruling of this case influenced the path of America’s racial transformation, shaped our understanding of the Supremes Court role in American Society , and altered our conception of the relationship between law and social reform.
Sources Klarman, Michael. Brown v. Board of Education and the Civil Rights Movement. Oxford University Press, 2007.
