Brown v. Board of Education

By tdooley15

  • Plessy v. Ferguson

    Plessy v. Ferguson
    Homer Plessy was sent to jail after appealing to the supreme courts because of the law that blacks had to ride in separate railroad cars and much more. Their decision was that the laws providing for "separate but equal" treatment of blacks and whites were Constitutional.

  • The want for education.

    The want for education.
    Linda’s father, Oliver Brown, and thirteen other parents tried to enroll their children in the local "white schools" in the summer of 1950, but were turned down because they were African Americans.

  • NAACP

    NAACP
    Oliver Brown went to the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) to fight to get Linda in the white school.

  • Appeal to the District Courts

    Appeal to the District Courts
    The NAACP appealed to the District Courts, because they also took this case as a very unfare trial. The State Court of Kansas ruled based on the Plessy v. Ferguson case, therefore they thought it was no big deal to treat the black children that way.

  • Appeal to the Supreme Courts

    After the ruling of the District Coruts, Oliver Brown and the NAACP decided to take it all the way to the U.S. Supreme courts. There were many other cases similar to this one at the time, and the lawyers decided to join and fight as one.

  • First Heard from the Lawyers

    First Heard from the Lawyers
    The Supreme Court heard the lawyers out and could not come up with a decision. The board of education argued that many people were fine with black children going to all black schools. The Browns wanted them to prove how blacks were different than anyone else. The arguement lasted three days, and the decision took a couple months. They did not come up with a decision.

  • Reargued

    The case was reargued, and the Courts asked that both sides discuss "the circumstances surrounding the adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment in 1868." They had to base the decision based on whether or not desegregated schools deprived black children of equal protection of the law.

  • Final Decision

    Final Decision
    The court ruled in Brown's and all of the other parent's favor. The Supreme Court struck down the "separate but equal" doctrine of Plessy for public education, and required the desegregation of schools across America. They referred to the Fourteenth Amendment, and this decision was a big turning point for all cases from there on having to do with racial inequality.