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    Brown So What

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    Jeremy Keeshin
    Brown v. Board of Education was a landmark 1954 Supreme Court case that ruled racial segregation in public schools to be unconstitutional, overturning the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson decision that allowed for "separate but equal" facilities. The unanimous decision marked a change in establishing equality and reversing the accepted norm of racial separation. While states claimed separate schools were equal, they failed to recognize how this further endorsed white superiority and hampered racial equality. Brown paved the way for progress in dismantling the status quo and moving America towards accepting desegregation, though persuading the divided country to drop old racist habits would continue to be challenging. The case built upon prior rulings supporting civil rights and served as a major milestone, though not

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    Brown So What

    Uploaded by

    Jeremy Keeshin
    57 views1 page
    Brown v. Board of Education was a landmark 1954 Supreme Court case that ruled racial segregation in public schools to be unconstitutional, overturning the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson decision that allowed for "separate but equal" facilities. The unanimous decision marked a change in establishing equality and reversing the accepted norm of racial separation. While states claimed separate schools were equal, they failed to recognize how this further endorsed white superiority and hampered racial equality. Brown paved the way for progress in dismantling the status quo and moving America towards accepting desegregation, though persuading the divided country to drop old racist habits would continue to be challenging. The case built upon prior rulings supporting civil rights and served as a major milestone, though not

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    Brown v. Board of Education was a landmark 1954 Supreme Court case that ruled racial segregation in public schools to be unconstitutional, overturning the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson decision that allowed for "separate but equal" facilities. The unanimous decision marked a change in establishing equality and reversing the accepted norm of racial separation. While states claimed separate schools were equal, they failed to recognize how this further endorsed white superiority and hampered racial equality. Brown paved the way for progress in dismantling the status quo and moving America towards accepting desegregation, though persuading the divided country to drop old racist habits would continue to be challenging. The case built upon prior rulings supporting civil rights and served as a major milestone, though not

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    57 views1 page

    Brown So What

    Uploaded by

    Jeremy Keeshin
    Brown v. Board of Education was a landmark 1954 Supreme Court case that ruled racial segregation in public schools to be unconstitutional, overturning the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson decision that allowed for "separate but equal" facilities. The unanimous decision marked a change in establishing equality and reversing the accepted norm of racial separation. While states claimed separate schools were equal, they failed to recognize how this further endorsed white superiority and hampered racial equality. Brown paved the way for progress in dismantling the status quo and moving America towards accepting desegregation, though persuading the divided country to drop old racist habits would continue to be challenging. The case built upon prior rulings supporting civil rights and served as a major milestone, though not

    Copyright:

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    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    of 1

    Jeremy Keeshin

    So What? – Brown
    1954 marked the year of change in the United States. The swirl of opinions
    surrounding the legal dilemma over civil rights came into question then more than ever
    before. Brown v. Board of Education was significant because it distinguished the end of
    an old era of civil rights and ushered in and cleared the path for future progress.
    The main reason Brown matters is because it was the first case to most
    passionately assert equality and reverse the accepted norm of Plessy v. Ferguson. The
    notion of racial separation and “separate but equal” had been drilled into the American
    psyche to the point of numbing it. The states didn’t care that “separate but equal” was
    trying to promote racial equality. They just wanted to barely eke out past the requirements
    of political equality under the law. States were under the impression that if there was
    education for blacks and there was education for whites, then it was equal. It was
    separate, but it was equal. They pleaded ignorance to the fact that this was the farthest
    thing from which it was. This further endorsed white superiority and amplified the gap of
    racial equality. The Fourteenth Amendment was being minimized at all angles by the
    courts to maintain this status quo. No one in America was ready for change.
    That is why Brown matters. It marked change. Warren’s vehement pursuit of the
    unanimous opinion was integral to giving Brown an impact. A 9-0, sturdy vote would
    mean more to America than a divided court. A divided court could not convince a divided
    America. A united court barely could. The task of persuading America to just drop its old
    habits of racism and segregation was not going to be helped by a weak opinion. The idea
    that “separate is inherently unequal” was the new realization in America that it was time
    to move forward albeit the old vices of discrimination and intolerance.
    Brown was the final step in a long line of cases to seal the deal on civil rights.
    Missouri ex rel. Gaines v. Canada made some progress, which was continued later by the
    decision in Sweatt v. Painter, which was continued by McLaurin v. Oklahoma State
    Regents for Higher Education. Each case was a small phase of the major battle for civil
    rights. Brown was not the end of the battle for civil rights, but it was a very strong end to
    the beginning of that fight.

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