Civil Rights Movement Analysis

Court Cases Contributing to the Civil Rights Movement

America: Land of the free. Or is it? Not that long ago, equal opportunity seemed far away as the moon to many African-American citizens. This is the cornerstone of the Civil Rights Movement, which has been taking on serious publicity in the late 1960 's, but dates as far back as American colonial times. The infamous court cases of Dred Scott v. Sanford, Plessy v. Ferguson, and Brown v. The Board of Education all helped further the cause of the Civil Rights Movement by giving insight into the lives and struggles of African-Americans to the public and promoting racial equality. The court case Dred Scott v. Sanford was a pivotal moment in Civil Rights activism because it was the

The last case, Brown v. The Board of Education, is important because it chipped away at the aforementioned "separate but equal" mindset by removing it from schools and places of learning. When racial integration was made commonplace, it not only made the public more aware of and active in the Civil Rights movement than ever, but it was also a major step towards the abolition of racial inequality. One important statement from this quote was made by Cheif Justice Earl Warren when he said "We conclude, unanimously, that in the field of public education the doctrine of 'separate but equal ' has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.”

Sanford, Plessy v. Ferguson, and Brown v. The Board of Education all brought further the cause of the Civil Rights Movement by showing the public a new perspective on the lives and struggles of African-Americans and promoting racial equality. The Dred Scott v. Sanford case brought light to the unalienable right of freedom for all men, not just whites. In Plessy v. Ferguson, the colored peoples were given rights and allowed to use certain facilities, but they were still separate from the whites, who had their own, cleaner facilities. This societal structure was referred to as "separate but equal". Lastly, in the case Brown v. The Board of Education, the dividing wall separating blacks from whites had another section of it torn down when the court not only made it legal, but made it a requirement to incorporate interracial schooling into society. This meant that kids of any skin color could attend the same school. This is arguably one of the most important historical cases from the Civil Rights Movement because of the huge impact it had on the general public. So next time you see racism in your community, whether caused by the ignorance of others or by pure hatred, what will you do? Because even now, after all this time, racism has not yet died of its old age, and people are still having horrible, prejudiced experiences with it. It is up to us to guarantee its immediate