Evan Reed
Mrs. Holt
MJ Legal Studies
October 8, 2017
Court Cases: Brown v. Board Of Education & Plessy v. Ferguson
In 1864, Abraham Lincoln abolished slaveryy at the end of the Civil War,. Between 1864 and 1964, a lot of work had to be done to integrate colored people into a mostly white society. By the1890s when the court case Plessy v Ferguson arose, blacks were treated as inferior in this country. It took a long while but eventually colored people were more accepted in American society, but separately, which was not the same. Then it took another sixty years, to the 1950s, when separate colored and white schools became unconstitutional thanks to Brown v Board of Education, finishing the separate but equal doctrine.
Plessy s. Ferguson …show more content…
Board of Education and Plessy v. Ferguson both dealt with segregation of whites and blacks. In Plessy, the court allowed segregation in the railroads using the separate but equal doctrine. As long as whites and blacks received equal treatment under the law, they could be legally separated on trains. In Plessy the court said legal separation might be morally or socially wrong but since the Fourteenth Amendment only required equal treatment of legal rights, segregation did not conflict with the Constitution. In Brown, the court said segregation in a public school was not the same thing and the separate but equal doctrine was not used. In the public schools, the whites got better schools in safer areas while blacks went to schools that were shoddy, making them feel inferior and not giving them equal opportunities. It was also important to the court that unlike the trains in Plessy, this case dealt with children’s futures. Children who went to white schools received better education and more opportunities. Children who went to colored schools did …show more content…
Board of Education was about a young girl named Linda Brown, everyday she would go to school taking a dangerous route past a switchyard. She went to a small, old, run down school while white children would go to a school that was nice and well kept. Her family believed that the segregated school system violated the Fourteenth Amendment and took their case to court. The Federal district court decided that segregation in public education was harmful to black children, but because all-black schools and all-white schools had similar transportation, classes, teachers, and buildings, it was legal. The Browns took their case to the Supreme Court. According to landmark cases.org “The Court decided that state laws requiring separate but equal schools violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.” The Majority Opinion was that “separate but equal” facilities are inherently unequal. In Plessy the court had looked at tangible things like transportation, buildings and teacher salaries. In Brown, the court examined the subtle intangible effects of segregation in public education such as making blacks feel inferior. Many schools were separating children solely based on race creating inferiority. The majority also said segregation of public education denied African American children equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the 14th amendment. As a result of Brown v. Board of Education, 14 years later, schools were starting to desegregate under the order of
Mrs. Holt
MJ Legal Studies
October 8, 2017
Court Cases: Brown v. Board Of Education & Plessy v. Ferguson
In 1864, Abraham Lincoln abolished slaveryy at the end of the Civil War,. Between 1864 and 1964, a lot of work had to be done to integrate colored people into a mostly white society. By the1890s when the court case Plessy v Ferguson arose, blacks were treated as inferior in this country. It took a long while but eventually colored people were more accepted in American society, but separately, which was not the same. Then it took another sixty years, to the 1950s, when separate colored and white schools became unconstitutional thanks to Brown v Board of Education, finishing the separate but equal doctrine.
Plessy s. Ferguson …show more content…
Board of Education and Plessy v. Ferguson both dealt with segregation of whites and blacks. In Plessy, the court allowed segregation in the railroads using the separate but equal doctrine. As long as whites and blacks received equal treatment under the law, they could be legally separated on trains. In Plessy the court said legal separation might be morally or socially wrong but since the Fourteenth Amendment only required equal treatment of legal rights, segregation did not conflict with the Constitution. In Brown, the court said segregation in a public school was not the same thing and the separate but equal doctrine was not used. In the public schools, the whites got better schools in safer areas while blacks went to schools that were shoddy, making them feel inferior and not giving them equal opportunities. It was also important to the court that unlike the trains in Plessy, this case dealt with children’s futures. Children who went to white schools received better education and more opportunities. Children who went to colored schools did …show more content…
Board of Education was about a young girl named Linda Brown, everyday she would go to school taking a dangerous route past a switchyard. She went to a small, old, run down school while white children would go to a school that was nice and well kept. Her family believed that the segregated school system violated the Fourteenth Amendment and took their case to court. The Federal district court decided that segregation in public education was harmful to black children, but because all-black schools and all-white schools had similar transportation, classes, teachers, and buildings, it was legal. The Browns took their case to the Supreme Court. According to landmark cases.org “The Court decided that state laws requiring separate but equal schools violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.” The Majority Opinion was that “separate but equal” facilities are inherently unequal. In Plessy the court had looked at tangible things like transportation, buildings and teacher salaries. In Brown, the court examined the subtle intangible effects of segregation in public education such as making blacks feel inferior. Many schools were separating children solely based on race creating inferiority. The majority also said segregation of public education denied African American children equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the 14th amendment. As a result of Brown v. Board of Education, 14 years later, schools were starting to desegregate under the order of