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​ __**Background**__ During the 1950’s, there was much dispute in regards to segregation. The main source of these outbreaks was based upon the Jim Crow Laws. These laws stated that although there were separate facilities for black’s and white’s, they would all be equal. It was not uncommon that these separate black facilities were more unattractive and less fair, which led to many arguments and more enforcement of the ideas that blacks were inferior to whites.
 * __ Brown vs. Board of Education __ **



__**Linda Brown**__ Linda Brown was a young African American student who lived in Kansas and went to school in the Topeka school district (1). Although the bus to the school for the while children was only seven blocks away, she was forced to walk one mile through a railroad switchyard just to get to her bus stop to her all black school (1). This unfair treatment was due to the segregation of white and black children in schools. When Linda's father, Oliver Brown, attempted to gain admission to the Sumner School, the all white school only a mere 7 blocks from her house, she was denied by the Board of Education due to her race (1). At the time, Kansas permitted, but did not require, towns with other 15,000 people to segregate their schools (1). After this, Oliver Brown went to McKinley Burnett, who was the head of Topeka's branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), in search of help. The NAACP gladly accepted and, in 1951, requested an injunction that banned segregation from schools, along with nearly 200 other plaintiffs (4).

__**The Case**__ From June 25th to June 26th, 1951, the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas heard Brown's case (3). The main point of the NAACP's argument, specifically one of the expert witnesses, Dr. Hugh W. Speer, was that segregated schools sent out a message that black children were inferior to the white children, making them unequal (3). The school board's retort was that the schools were merely preparing the black students for the world after they graduate, and used historic black men as examples of people who overcame these situations, such as Booker T. Washington and George Washington Carver (3). These arguments put the court in a difficult situation. The schools definitely had a negative effect on children, with their senses of inferiority decreasing their motivation to learn. However, the previous court ruling of Plessy V. Ferguson made this all totally legal. They were stuck in a situation where they had to interpret the 14th amendment and decide whether or not it intended to effect public education (2).Oliver Brown and the NAACP moved on to appeal their argument, along with many other arguments about the segregation of schools in places such as Virginia and Delaware, to the Supreme Court on October 1, 1951 (3). It heard the argument on December 9, 1952, but when failing to make a decision, it heard a re-argument from December 7-8, 1953 (3). The court had to make up it's mind about interpreting the 14th amendment, and in 1954, the decision was made (3).



__**The Decision**__ On May 17, 1954, the court made a unanimous decision in favor of Brown and the NAACP and demanded the desegregation of schools all over America. They stated that "Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal. ", and that the "seperate but equal" policy had no place in education (3). Although this decision didn't desegregate public places, nor did it demand desegregation at a certain time (3), it allowed black children everywhere to have the total equality and options of a fair and equal education.

[] (1) [] (2) [] (3) [] (4) ABC-CLIO Database: American History (5) splcenter.org (6) talkingbooks.nypl.org (7) [] (8)
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