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Background
Summary and Questions
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Vocabulary
to
segregate (segregation)
Define:
Use in a sentence:
facility (facilities)
Define:
Use in a sentence:
legal (illegal)
Define:
Use in a sentence:
to sue (sued)
Define:
Use in a sentence:
district court
Define:
Use in a sentence:
to appeal (appealed)
Define:
Use in a sentence:
In the early 1950s, many students went to different
schools because of their race. White children went to
one school and black children went to a different school.
This system was called segregation. During this
time, segregation was legal. Many other public facilities
were also segregated. |
Segregation
was legal because of past court decisions. In 1896, the Supreme
Court of the United States decided a case called Plessy
v. Ferguson. In this case, the Court said that segregation
was legal when the facilities for both races (trains, bathrooms,
restaurants, etc.) were similar in quality.
Under
segregation, all-white and all-black schools sometimes had
similar buildings, busses, and teachers. Sometimes, the
buildings, busses, and teachers for the all-black schools
were lower in quality. Often, black children had to travel
far to get to their school. In Topeka, Kansas, a black student
named Linda Brown had to walk through a dangerous railroad
to get to her all-black school. Her family believed that
segregated schools should be illegal.
The
Brown family sued the school system (Board of
Education of Topeka). The district court said
that segregation hurt black children. However,
the district court also said the schools
were equal. Therefore, the segregation was legal.
The
Browns disagreed with the decision. They believed
that the segregated school system did violate
the Constitution. They thought that the system
violated the Fourteenth Amendment guaranteeing
that people will be treated equally under the
law.
| No
State shall … deny to any person within
its jurisdiction the equal protection of the
laws. —Equal
Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment
of the U.S. Constitution |
The
Browns appealed the case to a higher court.
The Supreme Court of the United States agreed
to hear the case.
Questions to Consider:
- What
does it mean to have segregated schools?
- What
right does the Fourteenth Amendment give citizens?
- How
did the case of Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) affect
segregation?
- It
is important for this case to determine what "equal"
means. What do you think equality means to the Browns?
What do you think equality means to the Board of Education
of Topeka?
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