Premium Essay

The Role Of Segregation In Public Schools

Submitted By
Words 352
Pages 2
In Topeka, Kansas in the 1950s schools were segregated under the “separate but equal law.” Everyday Linda Brown and her sister would travel a long distance to get to an all black school when there was an all white school much closer to her house. Linda and her family believed segregated schools was a violation of the fourteenth amendment so they took their case to the supreme court and it became one of the most important supreme court decisions ever made. The main argument for the desegregating of schools was that "Segregation of children in public schools solely on the basis of race deprives children of the minority group of equal educational opportunities.” Although the schools had equal facilities, which wasn’t even true most of the time,

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

East St. Louis

...doing studies on inner city schools. In his book, Savage Inequalities”, he looks at, East St. Louis, Illinois, and the struggles the teachers, students, and community have to deal with everyday. He sees lots of problems in the city, but one that stands out most is segregation that still occurs in education. Kozol says, “In each of the larger cities there is usually one school or subdistrict which is highly publicized as an example of “restructured” education; but the changes rarely reach beyond this one example. Even in those schools where some “restructuring” has taken place, the fact of racial segregation has been, and continues to be largely uncontested” (Kozol, 4).” Kozol shows how schools that have supposedly “changed” still have segregation problems that were said to be resolved for years now. No matter how much schools deny it, segregation is still alive. There are facts and real life situations to prove it, but the question is, what factors lead to this problem? How has segregation in schools affected schools and students who go to segregated schools? What ideas or conclusions have been developed to identify this problem? As stated before, one of the most concerning questions we have to ask is, what are the factors that lead to segregation in schools today? One of the biggest answers I found to this question was the topic of residential segregation and its affect on school segregation. Gerald W. Bracey, the author of, “Segregation in Schools and Neighborhoods” from the...

Words: 2410 - Pages: 10

Free Essay

Segregation

...Segregation in Public Schools Mishonda Atkinson Winston Salem State University EDU 2334 April 28, 2015 Abstract After several laws have been passed and civil rights time being over, you would think that segregation in public schools wouldn’t still be going on. Unfortunately, there is still segregation going on in schools. Not only based on race but based on the student’s socioeconomic status. In this paper I will tell you what segregation is, how it has evolved in the past 5 years, and why segregation is important in North Carolina public schools. Segregation in Public Schools According to Webster’s dictionary, the definition of segregation is the practice or policy of keeping people of different races, religions, etc., separate from each other. Gary Orfield(2009) wrote an article stating that schools in the United States are more segregated today than they were in more than four decades. Schools in the US are 44 percent non-white and minorities (mainly African Americans) are rapidly emerging as the majority of public school students. In 1954, Brown v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court ruled that the South’s standard of “separate but equal” was “inherently unequal,” and did “irreversible” harm to black students. Now the most reason for segregation in public schools isn’t race, its poverty. Most of the nation’s dropouts occur in non-white public schools, which leads to African Americans unemployed. Schools that are in low income communities don’t get the same funding...

Words: 1114 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

The African American Experience

...until 1865 that the thirteenth amendment to the United States constitution outlawed slavery and involuntary servitude. Even though this amendment ended slavery, it took much more than a war to change the status of African Americans in America. Over the course of nearly 100 years, African Americans still endured much discrimination. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 passed legislation that outlawed major forms of discrimination based on racial, ethnic, and religious beliefs. This act ended unequal voting rights, segregation in school, work, and public facilities, and was the beginning of equal rights for African Americans. Now, in 2012, African Americans still have to fight discrimination in some places. African Americans throughout U.S. history have seen their share of political, social, and cultural issues. From slavery to segregation, politics have played a major role in African American lives. Even after slavery was abolished in 1865, African Americans had no political role in the United States. Then, in 1964, the Civil Rights Act was passed giving African Americans equal rights and outlawed discrimination and...

Words: 783 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Sociology

...In 1954, Brown v. Board of Education was a landmark Supreme Court case that would end public school segregation. Over fifty years later, studies have shown segregation has increased in the public school system. Currently, public schools have seen an escalation in segregation according to a report released by Richard Rothstein of the nonprofit Economic Policy Institute (Strauss, 2013). Three additional reports related to public school segregation have also been released. This increase in segregation could have detrimental effects on the U.S. multiracial society’s success (Strauss, 2013). The study conducted by Richard Rothstein was conducted in 2012 and has now received both international and national media attention. Segregation is defined as “separation of racial or ethnic groups in order for the dominate group to maintain social distance” (Henslin, 2011). In this case the dominant group is white students. A dominate group is defined as “a group with power regardless of the numbers associated with the group” (Henslin, 2011). Segregation has been growing based on both race and poverty. “Fifteen percent of black students and fourteen percent of Latino students attend “apartheid schools” across the nation in which whites make up zero to one percent of the enrollment” (Strauss, 2013). Previous studies conducted in the 1970s have shown four out of five students in the U.S. were white. Now in particular areas (South and West) students of color are the predominate race...

Words: 1474 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Diversity Response Prompt

...played a significant role in its view of culturally and ethnically diverse individuals. The design of education and the need for income has limited the inclusion of diversity and forced integration through curriculum, and social requirements for assimilation. The personal image of how those from a European dissent view themselves, as Case (2012) refers to as available unearned resources that whites are unaware of, but have the ability to utilize every day. Due to the opportunities, this places a deeper level of importance on assimilation, which exposes the roles non-white individuals have learned to play for acceptance. In many cases, it has cost humanity the knowledge and growth diversity adds...

Words: 1226 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Brown Vs Board Of Education Essay

...the Brown versus Board of Education case? The Brown versus Board of Education case is one of the many influential events in history that helped end segregation in America. The Brown versus Board of Education case got started in a little town in Topeka, Kansas in 1951 because of black students not being allowed to enroll in a white school. Brown versus The Board of Education was one of the five cases that the NAACP picked out to help fight for segregation in schools to come to an end. The case was fought first against the Topeka,Kansas school board with the sole purpose of ending segregation in the local schools. It was represented by Oliver Brown,a parent of one of the black students not allowed into white schools,who argued to the school board “Topeka’s racial segregation violated the Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause because the city’s black and white schools were not equal to each other and never could be.” Oliver Brown thought he had brought a strong case to the Topeka, Kansas school board, but they dismissed his claim by saying “Segregated public schools are substantially equal enough...

Words: 520 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Mendez V. Westminster Case In 1954

...students based off their nationality was unconstitutional because it went against the 14th Amendment. More specifically, it violated the equal protection clause by limiting them to a lesser learning environment and, therefore, not providing them with equal protection of the law. Marcus also brought in specialists who argued that segregation inhibits students’ abilities to learn by creating psychological problems and making them feel inferior. Based upon this argument, Judge Paul J. McCormick ruled that the equal protection clause had been violated and declared that separate could never be considered equal. This was the first time that the equal protection clause was used to combat segregation, and it proved itself to be utterly effective when the court ruled in favor of integration. Within months of this ruling, Governor Earl Warren had repealed the remaining school segregation statutes in the California Education Code. This included those of both Asian American and Native American students as well as Hispanic American students. While these races aren’t often thought of when it comes to the Civil Rights Movement, they certainly played a prominent role. Mendez v. Westminster is often overlooked because it was a state case and it did not involve African Americans, whom of which the...

Words: 1341 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Civil Rights

...rights movement was a movement within the United States of America in the 1940s to 1970s and led primarily by Blacks. Which was an effort to establish gender and racial equality for all African Americans worldwide. The aim of this movement was to remove racial discrimination, restore economic and to gain back freedom as being an African American. This movement produces many great leaders, and social changes that resulted as organized within the civil rights takin place. Helped the African American people also urge them to pursue their American dreams. The Civil Rights Act was a congressional act that prohibited discrimination in employment or the use of public places on the basis of race, sex religion, or national origin (Schaller G-4). This was the most massive issue in which the Black Americans struggle to end the segregation to be able to get all the rights deserved as citizens. Over the years passed by many was practicing in nonviolent protestation between all the Americans was being discriminated against. This may have included local government businesses, and at times even the whole communities got involved mobilized for a massive expansion of the movement in the coming decades (Schaller, 993). After the Cold War the African Americans needed to have alliances with the whites, legal resources, and leadership. This than put into Action the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Civil Rights organization founded in 1910 that was innovative in establishing...

Words: 1657 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

Segregation In Schools In The 1950's

...the schools the same way they separated the neighborhoods and community schools. Michael Fletcher, journalist for the Washington Post says that “Even as racial barriers have been toppled and the nation has grown wealthier and better educated, the economic disparities separating Blacks and whites remains as wide as they were when marchers assembled on the mall in 1963[ for the Martin Luther King Jr.’s I Have A Dream Speech]”(qtd. in“These Ten…”). Economics played a role in the African American for equality in the schools pre Brown just as it is factoring into the integration of schools today. Richard D. Kahleberg, a senior fellow at the Century Foundation in Washington D.C. who has studied the impact of segregation in schools stated:...

Words: 1326 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Plessy Vs Ferguson

...In the mid-twentieth century, the United States dealt with the turbulent forces of segregation and the civil rights movements working to eliminate it. During that time, two opposing narratives entered the scene, illustrating both sides perspectives and ideologies. The Southern Manifesto of 1956 was a letter signed by ninety-six southern members of the Senate and House of Representatives to renounce the Supreme Court decision on desegregating education and schools. The other narrative represented by Reverend William H. Borders' confrontation of segregation in 1957 decided on a non-violence strategy to fight segregation after the Montgomery Bus Boycott in Alabama. Both the Southern Manifesto of 1956 and Reverend William H. Borders' confrontation...

Words: 1939 - Pages: 8

Premium Essay

Five Miles Away, a World Apart

...Five Miles Away, A World Apart by James E. Ryan The public school system in the United States of America has undergone many transformational policy changes since its inception in the 17th century. These policy changes have largely been proportionate to the epidemic that is segregation. Segregation in the public schools of the United States has been the focus of many political agendas. Politicians, activists, scholars, and citizens have fought long and hard to create an equal public education for each and every child regardless of race, religion, or creed. To better understand the history and timeline of segregation within the US public school system, we need not look much further than James E. Ryan’s book, Five Miles Away A World Apart, One City, Two Schools, And The Story Of Educational Opportunity In Modern America. Mr. Ryan gives an immensely detailed portrayal of the educational divide in this country by using two high schools in the state of Virginia. These schools, Freeman and Tee-Jay, located a mere 5 miles apart, are representative of the educational segregation plaguing our schools. On the one hand we have Freeman High School, which is almost 80 percent white and Tee-Jay High School, which is about 80% black. It is clear to see that Ryan chooses these two schools, as they represent the great divide between urban and suburban public schools throughout our nation. Five Miles Away, A World Apart does a great job informing us on all of the policies...

Words: 666 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Closing the Gaps in Modern Education

...Oliver Pringle Professor John Schultz Ethics 2050 22 April 2014 Closing the Gaps in Modern Education The city of Philadelphia has one of the most racially segregated school systems in the United States with the largest performance gap between black and white students nationwide. “Philadelphia’s black population, and particularly its affluent black population, lives in much poorer neighborhoods than comparable whites because they are so highly segregated by race” (Denvir). The average black elementary school student in Philadelphia is reading at the 21st percentile, while his white counterpart is reading at much higher 66th percentile. The disparity experienced within the public education of Philadelphia children is caused by rampant segregation within the school system itself. Through my own experience, as well as the writings of the renowned psychologist Franz Fanon and philosopher Paulo Freire, I have found that the solution to the public education problem begins with a narrowing of the gaps between the haves and the have-nots. The Citypaper article written by Daniel Denvir unearthed a number of unbelievable disparities between the black and white students within the Philadelphia education system. Studies indicate that “Philadelphia blacks are exposed to poverty at a rate nearly three times higher than whites. The average black person in the Philly area lives in a neighborhood with a 24.8% poverty rate, compared to just 8.4% for whites. Chicago, Cleveland, St....

Words: 2292 - Pages: 10

Premium Essay

Brown Vs Board Essay

...seeking admission to public schools that were segregated based on race. Though many cases came before this one it got the most publicity. The case name, The Brown v The Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, came from one of the 13 NAACP lawyers named Oliver Brown. His reason for naming it after himself was a legal strategy to have a man at the head of the roster. The case was first argued on December 9, 1952, and then re argued on December 8, 1953 before being decided upon on May 17, 1954. The world’s reaction to the case was unbalanced. On one hand they felt as if Warren had took what the...

Words: 543 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

The Road to Ending Segregation

...The Road To Ending Segregation Barbara Pritchard HIS 204: Historical Awareness Professor Kimberly Hornback September 26, 2011 The road to ending Segregation The road to ending segregation was a long and hard move for the South. In the 1800s-1900’s segregation was enforced to keep African Americans separated from whites. During this time African Americans had to deal with the symbols of what was called Jim Crow’s, (Whites Only and Colored Only) signs; which are found today in museums, old photographs, and documentaries. Now since an African American has been elected President of the United States, a person could say segregation seems as old-fashioned and distant as watching an old black and white television. Although, the major challenge is to explain the reasons for the legacy of segregation, discrimination, and isolation to attain equality and civil rights, that African Americans worked to end. The best way to describe the shape of the United States in the second half of the 19th century, “according to eminent historian Robert Wiebe, the answer was isolated island communities,” (Bowles, 2011, Section 1.1, Para 1). Wiebe used the symbol of the island because cities were very much separated and isolated from each other and had a weak system of communication between them. The time came, after the divisiveness and devastation of the Civil War, when the nation searched for order economically, politically, geographically, and racially. Although, emancipation came during...

Words: 1203 - Pages: 5

Free Essay

Segregation

...How have African-Americans worked to end segregation, discrimination, and isolation to attain equality and civil rights? For centuries, African Americans have played and continue to play a significant role in American history. While today, African American no longer face the laws of segregation and discrimination, they continue to fight for equality and civil rights. This continued fight is one of a long past with several triumphs and tragedies all which are an integral part of history. This essay will discuss how African Americans worked to end slavery, segregation, discrimination, freedom, and isolation. It will also discuss what led to the civil right implementation and how it was executed. Equal rights for African Americans have been contentious, and fought for decades. They have fought to impede ethic discrimination, gain equal opportunity and their civil rights since slavery in the 1600s. When slavery started in 1620s, African Americans only made up about 3 to 4 percent of the population in America. Although the number grew slowly at first, by the end of the 17th century, the population of African American slave grew to well over 650,000. (Becker, 2000) In America, slave labor became the key component in agriculture and booming capitalist economy of the 17th & 18th centuries. (County, 1999) In the beginning, Africans were exchanged for food and place as “indentured servants” by the Dutch. This practice was also true for many poor Englishmen who were...

Words: 1656 - Pages: 7