BROWN VS. BOARD OF EDUCATION
In the 1950s blacks decided to fight against segregation in the case Brown vs. Board of Education. That resulted in a racial integration of public schools. The case Brown vs. Board of Education started in 1951 because an African American was turned down by a white school in Topeka, Kansas, her father, Oliver Brown decided to fight for her right to a proper education. She wanted to attend the white school because blacks did not get as good of an education. Blacks had only four schools ago they were over populated. The black schools did not get the most recent text books because the government spent three times more money on the white schools then the black ones. Although there were 14 other families involved in the lawsuit Brown was the first to sign the lawsuit so the lawsuit was named after him. The state court voted against the blacks saying that it was good that the blacks were treated how they were so they got used to it for when they were older. Next they went to the Supreme Court. Their lawyer, Thurgood Marshal, was fighting for blacks to get the same education as whites. The Supreme Court looked through some studies and found that black schools were set up to give blacks a low self-esteem. In the Supreme Court five votes are necessary but unanimously Brown received all nine. An African American newspaper stated after the decision “Neither the atom bomb nor the hydrogen bomb will ever be as meaningful to our democracy as the unanimous declaration of the supreme court that racial Segregation violates the spirit and the letter of our constitution “many blacks did not celebrate because they were scared of what the whites would do. The great decision of the Supreme Court was made on May 17, 1954. Change did not happening immediately but, within 2 years 70% of the Border States were immigrated. In the south there was NO change read some incidents that happened in the south at this time in Alabama, Kansas, New Orleans, and Virginia. The one that touched me the most was in New Orleans there was a six year old kid walking to school but not like a regular kid he was being surrounded by armed men in order to keep him from the angry mob of whites that were throwing food. Slowly but slowly, however, change happened, all because Brown vs. Board of Education decided separate is not justice for African Americans. Their lives were now becoming more meaningful to them because they will be able to achieve more, becoming doctors, lawyers, teachers, and business men because they now have access to a better education. This was a beginning of a better life.
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"In recognizing the humanity of our fellow human beings, we pay ourselves the highest tribute." -Thurgood Marshall
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SOURCES
1 http://www.pbs.org/wnet/supremecourt/rights/landmark_brown.html
2 http://library.thinkquest.org/J0112391/brown_v__board_of_education.htm
3 http://www.arkansas.com/uniquely-arkansas/central-high/
4 http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/articles/ushistory/brownvboard.htm
5 http://www.tolerance.org/magazine/number-25-spring-2004/department/brown-v-board-american-legacy
1 http://www.pbs.org/wnet/supremecourt/rights/landmark_brown.html
2 http://library.thinkquest.org/J0112391/brown_v__board_of_education.htm
3 http://www.arkansas.com/uniquely-arkansas/central-high/
4 http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/articles/ushistory/brownvboard.htm
5 http://www.tolerance.org/magazine/number-25-spring-2004/department/brown-v-board-american-legacy