Polk County’s school system dates from the 1860’s, when Jacob Summerlin established the Summerlin Institute in Bartow, the seat of county government. In 1893, the Institute became the public school of Bartow then the leading education center of Polk County. South Florida Military Institute was founded in 1894 in temporary quarters by General Evander McIvor Law, a confederate veteran. Enrollment was statewide, and the school received partial funding and was brought into the state’s school program. Homeland’s School had one room, one teacher, nine grades, forty-nine pupils in 1905.
Plessy v. Ferguson had upheld segregation of our society. This case was in Louisiana a southern state, which had enacted a Jim Crow law the Separate Car Act which made whites and blacks have to ride in separate trains. Mr. Plessy was a mixed race man who was mostly white and was arrested for sitting in the all white train and refusing to move. This happened in 1892 and Plessy was brought to Criminal Court in New Orleans, where Judge Ferguson had upheld the law. Plessy challenged this ruling and was brought to the supreme court of the United States.
“We all should know that diversity makes for a rich tapestry, and we must understand that all the threads of the tapestry are equal in value no matter what their color.”, says Maya Angelou putting in the spotlight the judgment of people based on how they look. The cases of Dred Scott vs. Sanford, Plessy vs. Ferguson, and Loving vs. Virginia all attempt to prove this point during the civil rights movement. These cases also make apparent the segregation of blacks in the court system. In 1864, the question of having freedom was brought into the courtroom by Dred and Harriet Scott in St. Louis City. Dred and Harriet Scott had been held captive in free territory and then brought back to a slave state.
Segregation was one of the most common things that were happening back in the day. And it was segregation over black people. The whites didn’t have any respect for the blacks and that resulted in bad situations. Several people like Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr. wanted everyone to be equal. And they definitely got what they wanted.
Brown v. Board of Education The Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court case was a very important case for Americans. This case was a landmark United States Supreme Court case in which the Court declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students to be unconstitutional. The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in this court case changed majorly the history of race relations in the United States. On May 17, 1954, the Court got rid of constitutional sanctions for segregation by race, and made equal all education opportunities as the law of the land.
Plessy v Fergusen was yet another court case where “separate but equal” was not implementing equality. It showed that they still thought of Black men and women as being less and not deserving the same rights as the White men. Homer Plessy was a free man, that was mainly White and because of a percentage he had of being Black he was treated as a Black man. He tried to sit in the train car of the White men and much like Rosa Parks was asked to go to the back where the Black men belonged in a different car. This case resulted in the Supreme Court defending the decision of the East Louisiana Railroad stating that they weren't violating any law by the ruling they had.
Martin Luther King Jr. once stated "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character." (“Martin Luther King, Jr. Quotes at BrainyQuote.com”) This quote connects with some cases that happened well before the Civil Rights, because the court rulings gave one race more accommodations than another race. The cases decided that African Americans had to go to different schools and even use different water fountains. One case dealt with a slave living in "free" territory.
In 1892, in Louisiana, a man who was one- eight black, Homer Plessy agreed with a group of Africa American take part in the test the constitutionality of Louisiana about the law which known as the Separate Car Act. Plessy bought a first- class ticked and board on the car for white people only in New Orleans. Also, Plessy refused to seat in the car for Africa- American which the state law required, so he was arrested and brought to court. In the Criminal Court, Plessy argued that the Fourteen Amendment prohibited racial segregation in front of judge John H. Ferguson who held the state law, and Plessy’s lawyer argued that the separate the transport car between citizens is violation Fourteen Amendment which should be not allow by legislation on
The Supreme Court’s decision amalgamated with the Reconstruction-era differentiation between civil rights and social rights in the preceding court case of Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896. Conforming to Justice Henry Brown, the Fourteenth Amendment endorsed “absolute equality of the two races before the law, but, in the nature of things, it could not have been intended to abolish distinctions based upon color, or to enforce social, as distinguished from political equality.” Congress could require the separation of the races as Brown communicated the reasoning of the laws not implying the inferiority towards either race. Plessy’s lawyer, Albion Tourgee, exhorted that the segregation regulations implied the white supremacy’s view of African American was seen as inferior.
he Dred Scott decision of 1857 was a significant decision made by the U.S. Supreme Court that declared that blacks, regardless of whether they were free or a slave, had no legal standing because they were not American citizens. The decision was not the first to be made regarding Dred Scott; a Missouri jury ruled in Scott 's favour when Scott claimed that his residence in Illinois and Wisconsin made him free, but the state supreme court ruled against him, which lead to the case being escalated to the US Supreme Court. The US Supreme Court ruled against Scott 7-2. The Dred Scott decision is considered a landmark decision and is indicative of the tumultuous political climate of the time.
If institutions of higher education are to enjoy open minded campuses, faculty, staff, and students will need to combat beliefs of mismatching so that affirmative action (AA) can keep making a difference. Diversifying schools, giving minorities an opportunity to receive a quality education, and combating stereotypes are three of the many ways AA has had a positive impact. Additionally, institutions can advocate AA’s success in educating minorities by promoting and advertising fellow AA beneficiaries at their campuses. An example would be the showcasing of Sonia Sotomayor, who attended Princeton University thanks to AA. By showcasing minority alumni, universities would be able to attract more minorities to their institutions by simultaneously