Before 1954, racially segregated schools were part of the way things were, as well as the segregation of many other public facilities, thanks to the ruling in the Plessy vs. Ferguson case years earlier that established the Separate But Equal Doctrine, which was definitely not equal in my opinion. Even though all schools were supposed to be equal, many black schools were far from that.
Linda Brown, a black third grader from Topeka, Kansas, had to walk a mile to reach her black elementary school while, seven blocks from home, there was a white school. When her father, Oliver Brown, attempted to enroll her in that white school, he was flatly refused. Brown then went to the head of the Topeka branch of the NAACP to ask for help. They were more than willing to help as they had been waiting for a reason to fight segregation in the public school system. I'm glad that they wanted to fight for what's right. It really wasn't fair for her to have to walk so far to school when there was one so much closer.
On June 25 and 26 of 1951, the District Court of Kansas heard the case. The NAACP argued that the black schools were not equal to the whites because being segregated sent the message that blacks were inferior. The Board argued that since some many other things were segregated, having separate schools for blacks and whites was simply preparing them for their adult lives. They also argued that separate schools were not harmful as such greats as Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, and George Washington Carver came out of a segregated system. Just because they over came the system does not mean that's right. Therefore, their argument was lame.
The decision was not an easy one for the court. On one hand, they agreed that segregated schools were hampering a black child's motivation to learn. On the other, no court had yet ruled against the Plessy case so they thought that they shouldn't be the first to do so.
Brown and the NAACP then appealed to the Supreme Court. On October 1, 1951, their case and others against the segregation of schools were combined. December 9, 1952, was the first time the Supreme Court heard Brown's case, but they failed to reach a decision. They presented the case again December 7 and 8 of the next year, but the case was not resolved until May 17, 1954.
The Supreme Court had ruled against the Plessy case and now the desegregation of schools nationwide was required.
While this was a huge step in the right direction, the battle for desegregation was only just beginning.
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Source 2
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