Primary Source Review: Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas
After many years under the “separate but equal” doctrine of the Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), African Americans finally gained their first step to actual equality, specifically in school. The “separate but equal” doctrine established separate facilities, including separate schools, for blacks and whites that were said to be equal, but were not. In fact, whites only schools provided much better education than blacks only schools. The separate school systems were inherently unequal and therefore failed to acknowledge the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. In addition, African Americans felt extremely inferior to whites. The unequal school systems and inferiority …show more content…
Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas case, state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students were declared unconstitutional, by a 9-0 decision. This case overturned the Court’s decision in Plessy v. Ferguson, which allowed the separate school systems. The Warren Court declared that separate schools were inherently unequal. State laws advocating segregation of blacks and whites were found as a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause. Although this was a huge step for African Americans, many states, like Mississippi, Virginia, Alabama, and Kentucky refused to acknowledge the case, declaring that racial integration was an issue to be decided by the States’ Government, not the Federal Government. By 1956, still six southern states did not allow white children and black children to learn at the same …show more content…
Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. Instead, he offered facts, rather than opinions. When he was explaining the lack of acknowledgement of the Fourteenth Amendment, he provided supporting evidence in a historical context, including the laws that forbid blacks to even get an education and that whites’ education was provided by private groups, far greater than the education blacks would receive. This made him very unbiased because instead of discussing his opinion to the situation, he discussed what was happening and how it conflicted with the Fourteenth Amendment that was put in place far before the “separate but equal” doctrine from Plessy v. Ferguson. He also included sociological and psychological findings to provide evidence to back up his claim that black students felt inferior to white students. Not only that, but he was a white man fighting for racially integrated schools. During the Civil Rights Movement, it was almost unheard of for a white man to carry the opinion Warren did. Even President Eisenhower had refused to endorse the Warren Court’s decision that segregated schools were unconstitutional. Warren fought for an end to racial segregation in
After many years under the “separate but equal” doctrine of the Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), African Americans finally gained their first step to actual equality, specifically in school. The “separate but equal” doctrine established separate facilities, including separate schools, for blacks and whites that were said to be equal, but were not. In fact, whites only schools provided much better education than blacks only schools. The separate school systems were inherently unequal and therefore failed to acknowledge the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. In addition, African Americans felt extremely inferior to whites. The unequal school systems and inferiority …show more content…
Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas case, state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students were declared unconstitutional, by a 9-0 decision. This case overturned the Court’s decision in Plessy v. Ferguson, which allowed the separate school systems. The Warren Court declared that separate schools were inherently unequal. State laws advocating segregation of blacks and whites were found as a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause. Although this was a huge step for African Americans, many states, like Mississippi, Virginia, Alabama, and Kentucky refused to acknowledge the case, declaring that racial integration was an issue to be decided by the States’ Government, not the Federal Government. By 1956, still six southern states did not allow white children and black children to learn at the same …show more content…
Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. Instead, he offered facts, rather than opinions. When he was explaining the lack of acknowledgement of the Fourteenth Amendment, he provided supporting evidence in a historical context, including the laws that forbid blacks to even get an education and that whites’ education was provided by private groups, far greater than the education blacks would receive. This made him very unbiased because instead of discussing his opinion to the situation, he discussed what was happening and how it conflicted with the Fourteenth Amendment that was put in place far before the “separate but equal” doctrine from Plessy v. Ferguson. He also included sociological and psychological findings to provide evidence to back up his claim that black students felt inferior to white students. Not only that, but he was a white man fighting for racially integrated schools. During the Civil Rights Movement, it was almost unheard of for a white man to carry the opinion Warren did. Even President Eisenhower had refused to endorse the Warren Court’s decision that segregated schools were unconstitutional. Warren fought for an end to racial segregation in