Brown vs. Board of Education
By Jackson Sullivan
People Who Play a Role in the Case
• Oliver Brown
• Linda Brown
• Board of Education for the City of Topeka
Kansas
The Problem
Linda Brown, Oliver Brown's
daughter, had to go almost a
mile to get to the nearest black
school, instead of going to the
white school only seven blocks
away where all of her white
neighborhood friends went to
school. The separation of white
students and black students
concerned a number of the
African American families in the
City of Topeka. The law at that
time allowed segregation if the
places were equal.
Segregation
Segregation was the problem,
or law that caused the whole
case to occur. Segregation is
the forced separation of different
racial groups in a country,
establishment,
or community. For example,
African Americans had different
water fountains that they had to
drink out of. Other examples
would be separate seating on
buses, different rooms in
restaurants and movie theaters,
and in this case, separate
schools. The law of segregation
led to many disputes and
boycotts.
Plessy vs. Ferguson
Mr. Homer Plessy, an African American man,
who lived in Louisiana got on a white only railroad
car. Mr. Plessy was asked to move to the black
railroad car, but he wouldn’t go. Mr. Plessy was
arrested and convicted. Mr. Plessy argued that the
separate train cars violated his rights for equal
protection under the law.
Plessy vs. Ferguson
The Supreme Court of the United States heard
the Plessy vs. Ferguson case in 1896. The Supreme
Court held that as long as the separate places for
different races were the same then it was legal, and
the separation did not violate the Fourteenth
Amendment which requires equal protection under
the law for all citizens. This was called the
“separate but equal” law.
Brown’s Action and Reformation
Mr. Brown along with
other African American families
in Topeka challenged the
separate but equal law. Mr.
Brown and those families argued
that the forced segregation, even
if equal, promoted racism and a
poor learning environment for
different races. The United
States Supreme Court overturned
the Plessy decision and held that
separate but equal facilities in
public education were not proper.
Reactions and
Revolutions
After the case was closed, most
reactions were happy. It also created many
problems in the society, and Oliver received many
threats. Overall the impact was great, and many
people were greatly influenced by the case. This
case changed the way many African Americans
lived, and changed the way African Americans
were educated. Brown vs. Board of Education is
commonly referred to as the start of the Civil
Rights Movement and many of the civil rights
changes in the 1960s and 1970s. The case served
as an inspiration to Civil Rights Leaders like Rosa
Parks and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. One could
logically argue the election of the first African
American President, Barack Obama, could be
related to the decision in Brown vs. Board of
Education.