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Example research essay topic: Supreme Court Decision Separate But Equal - 1,747 words

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Brown v. Board of Education Racial desegregation has always been one of the main problems in America. For sure, today America is moving towards the ideals of equality and justice in all spheres of life, declared in its Declaration of Independence and Constitution. But it is difficult to change the attitudes of some Americans in respect to race relations, as racial segregation has been extended across the country for many years. The author of the words about equality of all citizens in the eyes of our creator was Thomas Jefferson, but he did not consider black slaves equal citizens in culture. His attitude towards his slaves was contradictory.

On one side he saw the institution of slavery as an evil. On the other side he continued the practice of slave ownership. The nation had to suffer a bloody Civil War and over one hundred years of racial discrimination to come at a time when more equal education became available to all Americans. After the Civil War millions of formally enslaved African-Americans wanted to be full and equal citizens of the large society. They began to realize their significance as citizens of their country and started protesting.

For example, in 1872, Susan B. Anthony went to the polls in Rochester, NY but she was arrested and fined 1000 $. She refused to pay them citing the Fourteenth Amendments about equal rights of citizens of the United States which was adopted in 1868. Lets take another example. On June, 7, 1892 Homer Plessey refused to move from a seat for whites, so he was arrested too. The case was moved up to the Supreme Court which ruled that segregation in America was constitutional.

After the hearing of Homer Plessey's case Justice John Harlan wrote: Our Constitution is color-blind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens. In respect of Civil Rights, all citizens are equal before the law. (Knapp man, 467) Racial segregation included all spheres of life even school education. At that time white people got education in private schools. Negroes had no access to education. Practically, all of the race was illiterate; and in fact they were forbidden to get education in some states by law. In 1868, the Fourteenth Amendment was adopted where it was written that: All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside.

No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. ; but the effect of the Amendment on the states was generally ignored. The curriculum was usually shortened. The school term was but three months a year in many states. Ungraded schools were common in rural areas and compulsory school attendance was virtually unknown. So, as we see the effect of the Fourteenth Amendment was very little. In the early 1950 s it was the norm across America to segregate white children from black ones; although all schools were supposed to be equal most black schools were far inferior to their white counterparts.

Certainly, colored people were against it. They wanted to challenge segregation in public schools. They began to seek the aid of the Courts in getting permission to attend the public schools on a nonsegregated base by their children. Thus, the case Brown v. Board of Education appeared. The case lies in the fact that in Topeka, Kansas there was a black girl named Linda Brown who had to go to a black elementary school that was far from her house; though there was a school for whites not far from her house.

Her father Oliver Brown wanted her to go to the white school, but the administration of the school refused. Then Linders father asked the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (the NAACP) for help. The NAACP was eager to help the Browns. They wanted to abolish segregation in public schools for a long time.

Other parents, community activists and students join them and in 1951 the NAACP requested the USA District Court to forbid the segregation of Topeka's public schools. The case was heard from June, 25 - 26, 1951. The NAACP argued that segregated schools showed that black children were inferior to whites, so, the schools were inherently unequal. One of the expert witnesses, Doctor Huge W.

Speer testified: ... if the colored children are denied the experience in school of associating with white children, who represent 90 percent of our national society in which these colored children must live, then the colored child's curriculum is being greatly curtailed. The Topeka curriculum or any school curriculum cannot be equal under segregation. " (Cozzens, 6) The Board of Educations Defense insisted on segregation of schools. The representatives of it said that in Topeka and anywhere segregation penetrated many aspects of life. So, segregated schools simply prepared black children for the segregation in future, in there adulthood. They also argued that segregated schools were not harmful to black children: great African-Americans such as Frederic Douglass, Booker t.

Washington and George Washington Carver achieved great success in life. The Court was put in a difficult situation. On one hand, Judges agreed that segregation of white and colored children in public schools had a harmful effect upon the colored children. (They wrote that feeling of inferiority effected the motivation of a child to learn. ) On the other hand, the Court felt that it had to rule in favor of the Board Education because of the precedent of Plessey v Ferguson that allowed separate but equal school systems for black and whites. The Supreme Court ruling had not overturned the doctrine of Plessey yet. Brown and the NAACP appealed to the Supreme Court on October, 1, 1951, and their case was combined with other cases that had come from South Caroline, Virginia and Delaware. All these case had a common legal question: to permit to attend the public schools of their community on a nonsegregated base by their children.

The case Brown v Board of Education was first heard by Supreme Court on December 9, 1952; but it was not decided a judgment. Then the Supreme Court heard re-arguments in 1953. But re-arguments shed very little light on the case; and only in 1954, the Supreme Court came into decision based on whether or not the authors of the Fourteens Amendment had desegregated schools in mind by they based on whether or not desegregated schools deprived black children of equal protection of the law. The decision of the Court was based on the conditions, existing when the Fourteenth Amendment was adopted. It was delivered in the light of the full development of public education, in the light of the present place of education in American life through the nation.

It underlined that the doctrine separate but equal adopted in Plessey v. Ferguson had no place in the field of public education. The final decision was adopted on May 17, 1954. The Chief Justice, Earl Warren read the decision of the Court: We come then to the question presented: Does segregation of children in public schools solely on the basis of race, even though the physical facilities and other "tangible" factors may be equal, deprive the children of the minority group of equal educational opportunities?

We believe that it does... We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of 'separate but equal' has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal. Therefore, we hold that the plaintiffs and others similarly situated for whom the actions have been brought are, by reason of the segregation complained of, deprived of the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment. (Cozzens, 12) He read that in approaching the problem they could not turn the clock back to 1969 or even to the event when Plessey v. Ferguson was written. Warren underlined that they had to consider public education in the light of its full development.

And this is the only way that it could be determined if segregation in public schools deprived those plaintiffs of the equal protection of the laws. The significance of the Supreme Court decision is great because it declared that separate educational facilities are inherently unequal and violate the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution which guarantees all citizens equal protection of the laws. It struck down the doctrine of Plessey separate but equal for public schools, and demanded to desegregate schools across America. For sure, the Supreme Court decision did not abolish segregation of public schools; but it was a giant step towards complete desegregation of public education.

To commemorate this important event, Congress passed public Law 102 - 25 on October 26, 1992, in which it was indicated the role of the Courts decision in ending segregation in public schools. It called the decision a land mark the aim of which was to abolish segregation in education. The Court decision gave the African American community a signal to pressure on the legal and political system to put an end to segregation in all public schools. Some of African American believed that the Supreme Court decision would give an impact on prospering and learning; but it did not happen. They found that Congress and the Courts were unable to change the attitudes of Americans to race relations.

The race riots of the 1960 s and the civil disturbances in Los-Angels in 1992 showed that the inner life of the nation is still resistant to change. Here are some witnesses made by Doctor McKenzie, a Deputy Assistant Secretary in the U. S. Department of education and Mr. Wilkins, the Pulitzer Price and a graduate of the University of Michigan and the University Michigan School of Law.

They were among the participants of the Woodstock forum held on April 22, 1993. It was devoted to the progress of African-American education since Brown v. Broad of Education of Topeka to the 1954 landmark decision of the Supreme Court which demanded to abolish racial segregation of public schools. Dr. McKenzie remembered how the decision had impacted on her. She said that at first some of them believed that Brown v.

Board of Education would be the magic portion that would make all...


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Research essay sample on Supreme Court Decision Separate But Equal

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