Supreme Court Case: Brown V. Board Of Education

Section II

In 1950, school were segregated by skin color. Everyday Linda Brown and her sister had to walk one mile, crossing busy railroad tracks just to get to the bus that took them to school across town. But they were an elementary school that was already close to their house but it was for white’s children only but Linda brown and her sister were black so they couldn’t go to that school. Her father tried to enroll her to the white elementary school because her other school was too far of a walk and was afraid that she might get hit by a train one morning on her way to school but the principal of the white school wouldn’t allow it. Because of that Brown went to the National Association for the Advancement of colored people or the NAACP

Because of that the court combined all five cases under the name Brown v. Board of Education. The NAACP were involved in all five cases and the appointed Thurgood Marshall, a future supreme court justice to argue the case for Brown. The court heard the case in the spring of 1953 but it remained a divided on the issue. They knew this was a big deal but they didn’t want to rush it. Chief justice Fred Vinson was really worried about a close vote that would dramatically change the country and he wanted to postpone the decision. But he passed away in September and president Dwight Eisenhower nominated Earl Warren, the former governor of California to replace Vinson. The court reheard the case in December 1953 with Warren in charge. For many months, the justices debated and discussed the case. One justice who had thought about voting against Brown was Robert Jackson, suffered a heart attack during his time. Warren went to visit him at the hospital to continue the discussion on the case during his recovery. After that Jackson changed his

On May 17th 1954, the court voted 9-0 in support of Brown. This overturn the infamous Plessy vs Ferguson decision by saying that segregation of school based on skin color went against the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment. The court also argued that segregated school made African American children feel inferior and damaged their development. Warren gave the opinion of the court by saying that “we conclude that in the field of public education, the doctrine of separate but equal has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.” The reporters at the announcement of the decision were shocked that it was unanimous. They were expecting a divided court. They were also chocked to see Robert Jackson there. Jackson left the hospital to go directly to court to show that that the court was truly united behind that decision. The court didn’t announce how their ruling was to be enforced. It asked the attorney generals of all states enforcing segregation laws for their feedback. The court heard of more hearing over the next year and on May 31 1955, they announced a plan of how to proceed with the desegregation of public school. They said it should occur with all deliberate speed. That decision became known as Brown 2. Many tried to ignore the ruling and it took several years before school systems were fully desegregated. The south in particular