Summary
Brown v. Board of Education was a landmark case in the United States Supreme Court in which the doctrine of “separate but equal,” specifically in regard to public education, was deemed unconstitutional. The Court decided unanimously (9-0) for the plaintiffs, overturning the Plessy v Ferguson (1896) decision in the context of education. The decision, based upon the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, deemed separate educational facilities to be “inherently unequal”. Not only was this case a major victory for the Civil Rights Movement, it also paved the way for future supreme court rulings which declared all forms of segregation to be unconstitutional.
First Timeline
Background
Prior to Brown v Board of Education in 1954, racial segregation in the United States was legally permitted by the Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896. In the infamous “separate but equal” decision of Plessy v Ferguson, the Supreme Court ruled that as long as separate facilities for separate races were equal, they did not violate the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th amendment. In the early 1900s, several cases received minor victories in the struggle for racial equality such as Murray v. Maryland (1936), Missouri ex rel Gaines v. Canada (1938), Sweat v. Painter (1950), and McLaurin v. Oklahoma Board of Regents of Higher Education (1950). In these cases, while the supreme court recognized the inequality in segregated education, they stopped short of endorsing mass desegregation to achieve said educational equality.
The case of Brown v Board of Education is actually five separate cases that were heard together by the U.S. Supreme Court concerning the issue of segregation in public schools. The individual cases were Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Briggs v. Elliot, Davis v. Board of Education of Prince Edward County (VA.), Boiling v. Sharpe, and Gebhart v. Belton. While the facts of each case are different, the main issue in each was the constitutionality of state-sponsored segregation in public schools. The decision in Brown v. Board of Education only applied to four of those cases, with Bolling v. Sharpe being decided on independently of the other four, as it argued segregation of public education violated the Fifth Amendment’s Due Process Clause, as opposed to the 14th’s Equal Protection Clause.
Procedural History
Brown et al. v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas
United States District Court for the District of Kansas – 98 F.Supp. 797 (D. Kan. 1951)
Ruled in favor of the School Board. Plaintiffs (Brown et al.) claimed that the segregated schools in Topeka were not equal. The district court found “segregation in public education has a detrimental effect upon Negro children, but… the Negro and white schools were substantially equal with respect to buildings, transportation, curricula, and educational qualifications of teachers.” The plaintiffs appealed this decision to the Supreme Court.
Decision Text: http://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/98/797/1899646/
United States Supreme Court – Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 (1954)
SCOTUS ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, stating that “Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.”
Briggs et al. v Elliot et al.
United States District Court for the Eastern District of South Carolina – 98 F.Supp. 529 (E.D.S.C. 1951)
Ruled that the black schools were “inferior” to the white schools, and mandated that the black school’s facilities be “equalized.” However, they sustained the idea of separate but equal, the ruling only finding the schools violated the “equal” aspect of that doctrine. “The court found that the Negro schools were inferior to the white schools, and ordered the defendants to begin immediately to equalize the facilities. But the court sustained the validity of the contested provisions and denied the plaintiff’s admission to the white schools during the equalization program.” The plaintiffs appealed this decision to the Supreme Court.
Decision text: http://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/98/529/1899720/
United States Supreme Court – Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 (1954)
SCOTUS ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, stating that “Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.”
Davis et al. v. County School Board of Prince Edward County, Virginia, et al.
United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia – 103 F.Supp. 337 (E.D. Va. 1952)
Similar to Briggs et al., court ruled that black and white schools were not equal, but that segregated schools were not unconstitutional. “The court found the Negro school inferior in physical plant, curricula, and transportation, and ordered the defendants forthwith to provide substantially equal curricula and transportation and to “proceed with all reasonable diligence and dispatch to remove” the inequality in physical plant.” The plaintiffs appealed this decision to the Supreme Court.
Decision Text: http://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/103/337/1469032/
United States Supreme Court – Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 (1954)
SCOTUS ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, stating that “Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.”
Gebhart et al. v. Belton et al.
Delaware Court of Chancery – 87 A.2d 862 (Del. Ch. 1952)
Ruled that the schools in question should be immediately desegregated. “The Chancellor gave judgment for the plaintiffs and ordered their immediate admission to schools previously attended only by white children, on the ground that the Negro schools were inferior with respect to teacher training, pupil-teacher ratio, extracurricular activities, physical plant, and time and distance involved in travel.”
Decision Text: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/2351087/belton-v-gebhart/
Supreme Court of Delaware – 91 A.2d 137 (Del. 1952)
Held the ruling of the Chancery Court, but added the defendants “might be able to obtain a modification of the decree (decision of the Chancery) after equalization of the Negro and white schools had been accomplished.” The defendants appealed to the Supreme Court.
Decision Text: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/2158543/gebhart-v-belton/
United States Supreme Court – Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 (1954)
SCOTUS ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, stating that “Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.”
Issues
- Are “separate but equal” school systems actually equal as the lower courts had found?
- If “separate but equal” school systems are in fact not equal, does this violate the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment?
Decision
The Court ruled “no” and “yes” in a 9-0 decision in favor of the plaintiffs, that segregated schools were neither equal nor constitutional. The court ruled unanimously that the racial segregation of public schools which was previously considered equal by the “separate but equal” doctrine set by Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) was unconstitutional as such segregation violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th amendment.
Majority Opinion (Warren)
Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote the only opinion for the unanimous decision. The determination of the court held that “separate but equal” schools were in fact “inherently unequal,” and should therefore desegregate. Warren argued that regardless of whether or not white and black schools were similarly equal in tangible qualities, having separate facilities in and of itself creates intangible inequalities. Warren then argued that, given the importance education had in the modern day (of 1954) on childrens outcomes in life, education amounted to a right of all citizens, and thus to deprive some citizens of that right did not afford them equal protection of the laws, i.e. violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th amendment.
In the Majority Opinion, Warren first sought to establish whether or not inequality in education, if it existed in the manner the plaintiffs of the case contended, would violate the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th amendment. Warren concludes that education in the present day is likely the “most important function of state and local governments.” The arguments and reasoning he provides for the basis to this claim in the Opinion are:
“Compulsory school attendance laws and the great expenditures for education both demonstrate our recognition of the importance of education to our democratic society… It is the very foundation of good citizenship… (it awakens a) child to cultural values, (prepares) him for later professional training, and (helps) him to adjust normally to his environment. In these days, it is doubtful that any child may reasonably be expected to succeed in life if he is denied the opportunity of an education.”
Warren at this point states that since education is of such fundamental importance, if a state decides that education is something they are going to provide and have jurisdiction over, must therefore be provided equally, i.e. subject to the Equal Protection Clause.
In determining the equality of so called “separate but equal” facilities, Warren cited evidence presented before the court from the Kansas case which showed that, regardless of seemingly equal tangible characteristics of these schools, attending segregated schools has intangible detriments to students. The wording Warren cited to this point from the Kansas case was:
“Segregation of white and colored children in public schools has a detrimental effect upon the colored children. The impact is greater when it has the sanction of the law, for the policy of separating the races is usually interpreted as denoting the inferiority of the negro group. A sense of inferiority affects the motivation of a child to learn. Segregation with the sanction of law, therefore, has a tendency to [retard] the educational and mental development of negro children and to deprive them of some of the benefits they would receive in a racial[ly] integrated school system.”
Given these incredibly significant “detrimental effects” segregated schools had on black children, Warren drew the conclusion that “(s)eparate educational facilities are inherently unequal.”
Full Text Of Opinions
Significance/ Impact
The most significant result of Brown v. Board was that the decision overturned the doctrine of separate but equal with regards to education, which had at the time been the law of the land since the Plessy v. Ferguson decision in 1896. The opinion of the court, written by Chief Justice Warren stated very plainly the court’s position: “We conclude that, in the field of public education, the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place.” Brown v. Board lead to the rejection of the “Separate but Equal” doctrine in areas outside of education; it set a precedent against separate but equal. The most direct instance of this can in the Bolling v. Sharpe (1954) decision, rendered the same day as the Brown decision, in which the court decided there is an implied extension of the Equal Protection Clause to the federal government.
Second Timeline
Constitutional Provisions
The 14th Amendment states “for providing or ensuring the rights of citizens due process of law and equal protection of law, prior to property or liberty of property is deprived by a US State.” Although, slavery was abolished in the 13th Amendment, the 14th Amendment guaranteed the rights of citizenship to all people born or naturalized in the United States, including black men and women. This included due process of law and the Equal Protection Clause. In Brown v Board of Education, the segregation of public schools was deemed unconstitutional and a violation of the 14th Amendment.
Government Law or Action Under Review
- The practice of maintaining segregated public schools (having separate white and black schools).
- The Supreme Court’s decision in the case of Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), and the subsequent doctrine of “separate but equal” as it applies to education.
Important Precedents
- Plessy vs Ferguson (1896)
- Missouri ex rel Gaines vs. Canada (1938)
- Sweat vs. Painter (1950)
Important Subsequent Cases
- Bolling v. Sharpe (1954)
- Brown v. Board of Education II (1955)
- Cooper v. Aaron (1958)
- Griffin v. County School Board of Prince Edward County (1964)
- Green v. County School Board of New Kent County (1968)
- Alexander v. Holmes County Board of Education (1969)
- Swann v Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education (1971)
- Milliken v. Bradley (1974)
- Parents Involved In Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1 (2007)
Web Resources
“Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka 347 U.S. 483 (1954)” Justia law. Accessed April 17th, 2017 https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/347/483/case.html
“BROWN V. BOARD: Timeline of School Integration in the U.S.” Teaching Tolerance. The Southern Poverty Law Center, 2007. Web. Apr.-May 2017.
Available at: http://www.tolerance.org/magazine/number-25-spring-2004/feature/brown-v-board-timeline-school-integration-us
Epps-Robertson, Candace. “The Race to Erase Brown vs. Board of Education: The Virginia Way and the Rhetoric of Massive Resistance”. Rhetoric Review 35 (2016): 108-120.
“History – Brown v. Board of Education Re-enactment” uscourts.gov
Available at: http://www.uscourts.gov/educational-resources/educational-activities/history-brown-v-board-education-re-enactment
“Landmark Cases: Brown v. Board of Education (1954)” Public Broadcasting Service.
Available at: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/supremecourt/rights/landmark_brown.html
Middleton, Stephen. “With All Deliberate Speed: Implementing Brown v. Board of Education”. The Alabama Review. July, 2009, Vol. 62(3), pg. 217-219.
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Contributors
Spring 2017: Noor-ul-ain Chaudhry, Dennette Everett, Tichina Lawal, Cecil Pharr and Ryan Savage.