What happened in Brown vs Board of Education and why is it important?

Answer 1

Brown v. Board of Education, (1954) declared that segregation in the school systems was unconstitutional.

With this decision, the Supreme Court put an end to the pretense that "separate" could be assured of being "equal" (as established in Plessy v. Ferguson) and thereby struck down all laws mandating racially-segregated educational facilities; shortly following this was a series of Civil Rights Acts ending de jure segregation more generally, along with the civil-rights movement for active integration toward racial harmony.

More Information:

The Supreme Court of the United States, in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) held that "separate but equal" public facilities were not unconstitutional according to the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection clause. There were obvious moral problems with this ruling. In much of the US South, African-Americans were treated as second-class citizens, much like South African blacks were treated in apartheid South Africa. Although technically all blacks in the United States were given access to the same kinds of facilities as whites, they were prohibited from using the "white-only" facilities which almost always were far superior in quality.

The Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Topeka Kansas Board of Education et al. (1954) held that separate facilities, in education, were "inherently unequal" in that they essentially caused black schoolchildren to be stigmatized, psychologically, in being prohibited from attending public schools reserved only for whites. This, the majority argued, made "separate but equal" unequal in de facto terms.

Although some have criticized this decision on the psychological argument, it was a landmark case that essentially overturned the 1896 Plessy decision of "separate but equal".

Since the Supreme Court operates on the rule of precedent- where one decision is used in future decisions that have similar Constitutional implications- Brown paved the way for whole-scale desegregation of the South (and some parts of the North as well). After Brown a succession of cases, and finally Congressional legislation with the Civil Rights Laws passed in the mid-1960s, forbade segregation in first public, and later private facilities. It all started with Brown.

Case Citation:

Brown v. Board of Education, 347 US 483 (1954)

Answer 2

Brown vs. Board of Education was a very important and crucial court case for civil rights. It overturned the Plessy vs. Fuegerson case which stated separate but equal was acceptable. Basically it was giving segregation a further thumbs up. Brown vs. Board of Education overturned that and stated that the concept of "separate but equal" was unconstitutional. It was a dignified choice as well seeing as the separate part was on spot but the equal was lacking. This case was a landmark case for intergration and Little Rock Nine and was very beneficial towards the Civil Rights Movement.

Answer 3

As you probably know, Brown won the case. The importance was the desegragation of public schools. This meant that whites andblacks could go to the same school. Obviously this case has stood up to and affected today's school systems as well.

Answer 4

Prior to this case schools were not integrated and African American children attended sub standard schools for children of color only. They didn't get up to date books, needed supplies, and usually were in substandard classrooms. Schools didn't allow an African American child to enroll in a all white school. The premise for this was that they were "separate but equal". Thurgood Marshall represented the Brown's in the case and he argued that anyone who was separate was NOT equal. The moment a person is made separate they are not equal to others. The case was a landmark case because it opened all white schools to all children. Louise Brown was 7 years old at the time of the decision that opened the school doors for her. People yelled at her as she went to school and the school put her in a classroom with a teacher and no other children. She was never allowed to be with her second grade class. In response to the Supreme Court decision the idea of vouchers for schools was introduced. This was a means to keep the children separate from the movement to integrate. The reasoning was that African American families couldn't afford the private schools who would take the government issued vouchers and this would stop integration. Without the ruling schools would never have integrated, but today there are some schools today who still have not integrated fully.

Answer 5

The Brown vs. Board of Education case was significant because it made the supreme court realize that there should be more desegregated schools for both African Americans and Whites.