Guches 1

Candice Guches

Mr. Siekkinen

English 11A

9/26/25

Brown vs Board of Education

"We conclude that, in the field of public education, the doctrine of 'separate but equal' has

no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal”. This quote was stated by Chief

Justice Earl Warren, was said during the Brown v Board of Education trial. The event occurred

on May 17, 1954, and featured Thurgood Marshal, Chief Justice Earl Warren, Charles Hamilton

Houston, and many others (“Brown”). Other events that were going on over the same time period

were: The Silent Generation, was the people growing up during the Great Depression. Secondly,

the Vietnam War, which was a conflict from 1955 lasting until 1975. It was a conflict between

the communist North Vietnam and the democratic South Vietnam, and was being backed by the

US Government. Thirdly, was the Feminist Movement, which had its biggest advances in the

1950’s-1990’s, with some of the key issues being workplace equality, Reproductive Rights, and

getting the right to vote. Fourthly, was the Cold War, that was a conflict between the Soviet

Union and the US that started right after WWII ended, and lasted two decades (“Prosperity”). It

was called the "Cold War" because the two nuclear-armed superpowers could/should never fight

each other directly in an all-out war. The non-military war involved both countries and their

allies. Instead, they compete against each other through political maneuvering, in an arms race,

and proxy wars. The conflict ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union. Finally, there was the

Space Race, which was a competition between the United States and the Soviet Union to achieve

space flight technology. It began in 1957 with the Soviet’s launch of Sputnik and ended in 1975
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with the Apollo-Soyuz joint mission, but the rivalry had largely ended when the U.S. landed the

first man on the moon, in 1969 (“Prosperity”). Brown v. The Board of Education was a Supreme

Court case that declared racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional and transformed the

American education system by challenging the doctrine of “Separate but Equal” and advancing

the Civil Rights Movement toward greater equality and integration (“Brown”).

Prior to the lawsuit of Brown v. The Board of Education, there was the ruling of Plessy v.

Ferguson and Jim Crow laws and Black codes in 1896. This led to negative events like the

deadly Springfield riot in 1908. This helped lead to the creation of the “National Association for

the Advancement of Colored People” (NAACP) and as the years went on they grew much larger.

Events like the Mendez v. Westminster case, that was focused on segregation of Mexican

American students in the public school system in 1947. There was also the event of Sweatt v.

Painter and McLaurin v. The Oklahoma State Regents both took place in 1950. These cases were

successful in getting rid of segregation in college and university settings. Which then brings us to

the event that occurred when Oliver Brown’s daughter, Linda, was denied access to a nearby all-

white elementary school. Linda was instead forced to attend a segregated school that was farther

from her home which led to the actual filing of the lawsuit in 1951.

Brown v. Board happened on May 17, 1954 and in Topeka Kansas. But the case was first

argued on December 9th, 10th, and 11th of 1952. Then reargued on December 7th, 8th, and 9th

of 1953. The major people who were involved were Oliver Brown who served as lead plaintiff,

and Thurgood Marshall who was the first African-American Supreme Court Justice leading the

legal strategy that resulted in the decision. Some other people involved were Earl Warren who

was the Chief Justice and wrote the unanimous opinion for the decision and one of the last most

important people was The NAACP who led the legal plan and argued it before the Supreme
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Court. Brown argued that racially segregated public schools were inherently unequal and

violated the Fourteenth Amendment Right. But in reality, schools for Black students were often

underfunded, had dilapidated facilities, and lacked resources compared to schools for White

students demonstrating the separate was not equal. There were four other separate cases Briggs

v. Elliot, Davis v. Board of Education of Prince Edward County, Bolling v. Sharpe, and Gebhart

v. Ethel also argued the same idea as Brown. During the case Marshall presented social science

research, including the famous "doll tests" by psychologists Kenneth and Mamie Clark, which

showed the negative psychological effects of segregation on Black children to support his

arguments (“Brown”). The Court did not end with an order to carry through with the integration

of the schools of the various jurisdictions. Rather, it had requested the parties return to the Court.

In the end the court unanimously ruled that racial segregation in public schools was

unconstitutional, and took back the "separate but equal" doctrine.

The aftermath led to many things, like countless numbers of all-white schools in the

United States that still had not followed this ruling and still had not allowed black children into

their schools. This led to Brown II the following year, where the Court ordered them to integrate

their schools. It was not until the early 1970s that United States public schools were integrated

into Brown v Board ruling. Brown was the landmark for starting the Civil Rights Movement,

though the whites viewed Brown as a day of catastrophic Black Monday.

In 1957 some of the after effects that took place in Arkansas were a group of nine African

American students who were the first to help desegregate Little Rock Central Highschool. These

students were Carlotta Walls, Jefferson Tomas, Gloria Ray, Melba Patillo, Thelma Mothershead,

Ernest Green, Elizabeth Eckford, Terrance Roberts, and Minnijean Brown. They were referred to

as “The Little Rock Nine”; these students were initially blocked by the Arkansas National Guard
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from getting into the school. Though President Eisenhower sent the National Guard and U.S.

Army troops to escort the students into the school rather than keeping them out. The Little Rock

Nine became symbols of courage and resilience in the civil rights fights. Their integration of the

Central High School was a victory for the desegregation of schools. Also a win for the pursuit of

racial equality in the United States. The resistance to integration led to a large number of protests

and riots. Like those at the Clinton High School in Tennessee, where John Kasper, a head of an

White Citizens Council, sought out the promotion of segregation.

In the long run Brown v. The Board helped to legally deconstruct and help break down

school segregation. Progressing the struggle of segregation and racial inequity. Which shows that

the promise of equal education displays as an unfinished project. Decades later, progress stalled,

and school segregation began to rise again. Which is shown mostly for the Black students, and

their achievement gaps.

Though in today's culture, while many Americans support diversity in schools, the goals

of Brown remain unfulfilled. Including the loss of integration policies and ongoing economic

changes. The landmark Supreme Court case Brown v. The Board of Education overturned the

"separate but equal" ruling that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional, which

then helped start the Civil Rights Movement and paved the way for greater racial integration and

equality within the American education system (“Brown”). The ruling that separate educational

facilities are inherently unequal, which violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth

Amendment. This verdict was a huge legal and moral achievement for civil rights. That served as

a major helper for the wider Civil Rights Movement which helped challenge systemic racism in

housing, employment, and voting rights. While the decision did not immediately end school
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segregation, the moral and legal weight definitely helped to break the foundation of institutional

racism in America that helped the modern Civil Rights Movement.

Works Cited

Duignan, Brian. "Brown v. Board of Education". Encyclopedia Britannica, 31 July. 2025,

[Link]

“Brown v. Board of Education.” Moton Museum, 2 January. 2023,

[Link]/learn/brown-v-board-of-education/.

“Brown v. Board of Education (1954).” National Archives and Records Administration,

National Archives and Records Administration, [Link]/milestone-

documents/brown-v-board-of-education.

“Brown v. Board of Education.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 12 September. 2025,

[Link]/wiki/Brown_v._Board_of_Education.

Prosperity and Protest: Literature of the Post-War Era (1945-1970) pp.966-978). The

American Experience. Grant Wiggins, Ed D. Upper Saddle River: New Jersey, 2010.

Print.