Board of education was one of the biggest turning points for african americans to becoming accepted into white society at the time. Board of education to this day remains one of, if not the most important cases that african americans have brought to the surface for the better of the united states. Board of education was not simply about children and education silent covenants pg 11 it was about being equal in a society that claims african americans were treated equal, when in fact they were definitely not. This case was the starting point for many americans to realize that separate but equal did not work. The separate but equal label did not make sense either, the circumstances were clearly not separate but equal. Board of education brought this out, this case was the reason that blacks and whites no longer have separate restrooms and water fountains, this was the case that truly destroyed the saying separate but equal, brown vs. The case started in topeka, kansas, a black third grader named linda brown had to walk one mile through a railroad switchyard to get to her black elementary school, even though a white elementary school was only seven blocks away.

Linda's father, oliver brown, tried to enroll her in the white elementary school seven blocks from her house, but the principal of the school refused simply because the child was black. Brown went to mckinley burnett, the head of topeka's branch of the national association for the advancement of colored people naacp and asked for help all deliberate speed pg 23. The naacp was eager to assist the browns, as it had long wanted to challenge segregation in public schools. The naacp was looking for a case like this because they figured if they could just expose what had really been going on in separate but equal society that the circumstances really were not separate but equal, bur really much more disadvantaged to the colored people, that everything would be changed. The naacp was hoping that if they could just prove this to society that the case would uplift most of the separate but equal facilities. The hopes of this case were for much more than just the school system, the colored people wanted to get this case to the top to abolish separate but equal.

The naacp saw this as the perfect time to strike because the case really was a true showing of how separate but equal was just not what it claimed to be, brown had no problem getting other black parents to join in on the case, and, in 1951, the naacp requested an injunction that would forbid the segregation of topeka's public schools. District court for the district of kansas heard brown's case from june 25 26, 1951. At the trial, the naacp argued that segregated schools sent the message to black children that they were inferior to whites therefore, the schools were inherently unequal. 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.

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The topeka curriculum or any school curriculum cannot be equal under segregation. The board of education's defense was this, because segregation in topeka and elsewhere pervaded many other aspects of life, segregated schools simply prepared black children for the segregation they would face during adulthood. The african american culture felt that if the children are separated from whites at such a young age, then separate but equal is setting them up to be prejudiced against in adulthood anyway. So naacp wanted to stop this now so that in the future this segregation can stop.

They wanted to completely get rid of separate but equal, so that society can integrate as a whole without worrying about race and color, but being one as a nation. This proposed a difficult decision for the courts, on one hand the judges agreed with the witnesses, one judge wrote: segregation of white and colored children in public schools has a detrimental effect upon the colored children. A sense of inferiority affects the motivation of a child to learn silent covenants pg 22. Ferguson allowed separate but equal schools for black and white children, and no supreme court ruling had challenged that yet.

Brown and the naacp appealed to the supreme court on october 1, 1951 and their case was combined with other cases that challenged school segregation. The following states, south carolina, virginia, and delaware all had similar cases involving segregation of public schools. The supreme court first heard the case on december 9, 1952, but did not reach a decision.

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In the reargument the court requested that both sides discuss the circumstances surrounding the adoption of the fourteenth amendment. The court had to make its final decision based not on whether or not the writers of the fourteenth amendment had desegregated schools in mind when they wrote the fourteenth amendment, but based on whether or not desegregated schools deprived black children of equal protection of the law when the case was decided. On may 17, 1954, chief justice earl warren read the decision of the unanimous voting 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. 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 brown v. This supreme court decision got rid of separate but equal and required the desegregation of schools across the united states. Board of education was a huge success someone might say in the history of america.

This decision alone helped eliminate unneeded racism that would have undoubtedly been much worse had separate but equal stood. This case changed the history of america for the better by providing truly equal accommodations for blacks and whites, because each must now use the same facilities. This decision made it so children no longer need to concern themselves with being separate from other races, it shows that just because skin color may be different, that doesn't mean there is anything wrong with that person. Board of education was a big case for america and it definitely helped change the way we think and view other races today. This case cased many people to see that the separation between educations was useless and did not help the children rsquo s education. Many white schools were offended close to the neighborhoods and communities were children of color stayed.