Brown v. Board of Education (1954): Impact on USA

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the case of Brown v. Board of Education (1954) that compelled school administrators and school districts to throw open their doors to African-American students after generations in which segregation had been the accepted norm in US education. This paper argues that "Brown v. Board of Education" was historic because it overturned the Supreme Court decisions of the past that had guided and legitimated segregationist education in America for decades.

From the Paper:

"The case was significant, first and foremost, because it over-turned Supreme Court precedent. To be more precise, the Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896 had upheld the public policy of the state of Louisiana to segregate African-Americans. Particularly, the Court said that Louisiana was fully justified in having separate facilities for African-Americans and for whites as long as though facilities were "equal". In the Court's considered opinion, the Fourteenth Amendment - a constitutional amendment demanding equal protection under the law for all citizens and one that also impels states to treat equally all citizens under their respective jurisdictions - was not violated by the Louisiana policy of dividing black from white. As the High Court chose to interpret the matter, to the extent African-Americans and their sympathizers saw segregation as a sinister plot to suggest the racial inferiority of African-Americans, such a suggestion or intimation only existed because African-Americans chose to put that construction upon the situation. Of course, as it turned out, the High Court was rather profoundly mistaken."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Anderson, James & Byrne, Dara N. (2004). The Unfinished Business of Brown v. Board of Education. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. Retrieved July 27, 2007 from Questia database http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=106261486#
• Bell, Derrick. (2004). Silent Covenants: Brown v. Board of Education and the Unfulfilled Hopes for Racial Reform. New York: Oxford University Press. Retrieved July 27, 2007 from <http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=103178246>
• Brown v. Board of Education 347 U.S. 483; 74 S. Ct. 686; 98 L. Ed. 873; 1954 U.S. LEXIS 2094; 53 Ohio Op. 326; 38 A.L.R.2d 1180
• Cremin, Lawrence A. (1953). The curriculum-maker and his critics: A persistent American problem. Teachers College Record, 54(5): 234-245.
• Homer A. Plessy v. Ferguson 163 U.S. 537 (1896); 16 S. Ct. 1138; 41 L. Ed. 256; 1896 U.S. LEXIS 3390.

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