An important court battle entitled,
"Brown vs The Board of Education",
lead to the merging of races in the public school system of this Nation.
In the early 1960's, the segregation
of races in the public schools were still common and considered a normal practice
in the United States. All children are required to attend school, however only
forty years ago, black children were still seperated from the white because
many people believed that it was proper to have seperate facilities. This belief
was supported by a previous court case which expressed "seperate but equal",
ruled in favor of the Board of Education in 1896. This ruling provided the black
community with public schools but these schools were not supported equally by
Government funds. This previous ruling
did not anticipate what would happen next. The Board of Education would stand
trial again at the Supreme Court.
During the time of the 1950's,
Linda Brown was starting school. Every day she walked a mile through an old
railroad switchyard in Topeka, Kansas. This was the only walking path to her
black elementary school. Every day after school, she would walk the same mile
back home through the old switchyard. The saddest part about this story is...
another elementary school was only seven blocks away. It was much nicer and
safer to get to. The problem was that it was a white school and Linda was not
allowed inside.
Linda's father was concerned
that she would get hurt going to and from school. He attempted to enroll her
in the closer school but the principal refused. The only outlet to find help
was at Topeka's branch of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement
of Colored People); who were eager to challenge the "seperate but equal"
ruling and this was the ideal case.
It was a difficult fight but
in 1954, Chief Justice Earl Warren read the unanimous decision of the Supreme
Court. He spoke of many things including the Constitutional Rights of Equality.
The Board of Education lost and Linda Brown, now in the third grade, was allowed
to attend the closest elementary school near her house. This school, formerly
labeled as white, could no longer refuse the enrollment of a student.
Because this was a ruling of
the Supreme Court, it became Federal Law. The mandatory segregation in public
schools, which still existed in 21 states, were ruled unconstitutional. This
was a giant leap towards complete desegregation of public schools and other
public areas. This made a lot of people happy as well as unhappy.
The
March Of Ruby
Bridges...
In the painting above, Ruby Bridges
walks to school under the protection of Federal Agents in 1960. She was only
six years old but she helped integrate her elementary school in New Orleans.
