Today, the education system in America is completely different from how it was only fifty years ago. Schools were segregated by race and did not have equal education quality or opportunities for all the students. Thankfully, a lawsuit in 1954 changed the Supreme Court’s previous ruling, and stated that racial segregation in U.S. schools was illegal and in violation of the United States Constitution. Before 1954, schools were racially separated, which had been declared legal due to a court case in 1896, Plessy vs. Ferguson. This case was influenced by an incident in Louisiana in 1892, when African American Homer Plessy broke a state law adopted in 1890, which stated that “equal but separate accommodations for the white and colored races” were provided on railroads. Plessy refused to sit in the train car assigned to African Americans, thus breaking the law. Eric Foner in The Reader’s Companion to American History said, “Rejecting Plessy’s argument that his constitutional rights were violated, the Court ruled that a state law that implies merely a legal distinction,” between whites and blacks did not conflict with the 13th and14th Amendments. This case wrongly stated that separating public utilities and institutions, including schools, by race was constitutional, as long as the quality of education was equal-- which it almost never was. Schools that educated students of color or ethnicities other than white usually had less effective teachers and programs. Along with schools, nearly all public facilities were segregated. Bathrooms, hospitals, and even drinking fountains were all separated by race. Many people began to understand how awful the racial segregation was, and chose to fight against it. Before long, groups were being formed to fight the unjust educational system. As civil rights movements began to form and challenge the status quo, many additional citizens started to realize how unfair it was to allow segregation in the United States. By the early 1950s, lawyers were getting involved, relentlessly fighting the unfair outcome of the Plessy vs. Ferguson case. They represented families of all ethnicities who wanted to integrate schools in order to get equal educational opportunities for their children and for all the students across the country facing this challenge. Finally, in 1954, the United States Supreme Court unanimously ruled that racially segregating public schools was entirely unconstitutional. It was declared to be a direct violation of the equal protection clause in the fourteenth amendment. The fourteenth amendment “forbids states from denying any person life, liberty or property, without due process of law and forbids states to deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” (Primary Documents in American History, the Library of Congress.) Although segregationists were astonished at the news of this case’s results, the ruling was a huge victory for the Civil Rights Movement. Ending legalized racial segregation improved the civil rights of U.S. citizens dramatically. Although at first segregationists were very resistant to accept the new interpretation of the constitution, it did not fail to set the tone for the generations ahead. This case had extreme significance for the future of the United States. It began to mend the American education system, giving all students the equal opportunity they deserved. It also gradually instilled tolerance into the racist white citizens of that time frame, along with giving equal educational opportunities to all students from all backgrounds. The landmark case also coincides with the Civil Rights Movement because it took a huge step in the direction of providing truly equal education. This decision of the United States Supreme Court altered the rights of African American citizens and officially entitled them to the education they deserved. The outcome of the Brown vs. Board of Education case may be one of the most impactful Supreme Court rulings in history, beginning a new way of life for citizens with any ethnic backgrounds.
Public facilities before Segregation was deemed unconstitutional.