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Brown V. Board of Ed

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Brown V Board Of Education May 17, 1954 was a date that had an impact on the board of education and our lives. There was an African American girl named Linda Brown, she was a normal girl in the third grade. Linda went to a school that was a mile away even though there was an all white elementary school, seven blocks away. Her father, Oliver Brown, tried to enroll her in the white elementary school, but the principal of the school refused to let her in due to her race. Mr. Brown then took this problem to the NAACP ( National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), they agreed to help him. As this case became more known it was then later brought up to supreme court. Other cases have led up to this case, these cases included, Sweat v. Painter (1950) and McLaurin v. Oklahoma Board of Regents of Higher Education (1950). The cases leading up to Brown Vs Board of Education featured African American people dealing with segregation problems. Brown argued segregation is seen as antithetical to our whole culture. If a particular class of people are forced to stay in their own neighborhoods, have their own schools, parks, stores, restaurants, movie theaters, and not welcome in 'mainstream' places, they are not equal as citizens. This is a violation of the 'equality' provisions of the 14th amendment. One of the most basic founding principles of the US is that we have only one class of citizenship, every citizen is entitled to exactly the same rights and privileges of citizenship.Brown argued this and related it to 14th amendment rights.. The Board of Education and the southern states both had a different argument. They argued “Separate but equal” according to uscourts.gov. They were saying all schools no matter what race were all treated equally. The Board of Education denied that segregation was in schools and that they were breaking the 14th amendment. In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Brown. The Court found the practice of segregation unconstitutional and refused to apply its decision in Plessy v. Ferguson to “the field of public education.” Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote the opinion for the Court. This case made an impact on education but also on the world. Now thanks to this case schools today feature kids of all races. The judges who presided over Brown v. Board of Education stated “denying children access to a school on the basis of race alone deprived them of equal opportunities for education.” The case has given people of different races more options on where they would like to go. This case impact is also part of the fourteenth amendment. The fourteenth amendment states “all persons born or naturalized in the United States”. This case made sure everyone of every race can now not have any limitations. Thanks to the Brown v. Board of Education case today all people are equal.

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