The strength of American society is weakened, as it has been since the first slave ship set sail for this country, by the deep-rooted prejudices embedded within the great-grand daughters and sons of former slave owners and slaves. Although the United States has made much progress , one must not forget that less than fifty years have passed since the day little Linda Brown and other innocent children were turned away from a school because of their color. The Brown vs. the Board of Education decision has forever shaped not only the educational system of the twentieth century and beyond, but also the everyday lives we live.

Until the commencement of the Brown vs. Board of Education trial the segregation of everything from drinking fountains to schools was based on the Plessy vs. Ferguson decision of 1896. Under that decision racial segregation was legal as long as the separate facilities were deemed as equal. However, black establishments were rarely anything but inferior to those of whites.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was established in 1909 to support the rights of black individuals . The NAACP employ

The Kansas case was not the only school desegregation case filed at this time by the NAACP. There were also cases from South Carolina, Virginia, and Delaware. The NAACP lawyers presented each case before the federal tribunals in their individual districts. The Brown case was heard from June 25th-26th, 1951. The prosecution argued that segregated schools gave black children the idea that they were different and inferior to whites, and this was grounds for inequality in itself. As quoted in Simple Justice one of the expert witnesses for the prosecution, Dr. Hugh W. Speer stated,

Houston chose to focus on integration at the graduate and professional level because he felt he could force individual states into an impossible position without challenging the Plessy v. Ferguson precedent. Plessy required that equal facilities be provided for all citizens, even if the individuals were barred from one or the other facility because of his or her race. Houston wanted the State of Maryland to face the decision of either having to build impossibly expensive brand new black graduate and professional schools that would finally be equal to their white counterparts or to be forced to enroll blacks in the currently all white schools. Houston won a landmark case in 1936 when the Supreme Court of Maryland ordered that the segregated law school at the University of Maryland accept a black student, Donald Murray, instead of sending him out of the state for his education.

Without Plessy vs. Ferguson or a constitutional right to segregate many blacks rose to attain their equality, thus beginning the civil rights movement. The Brown decision gave the NAACP and all minorities in the United States a potent weapon to confront institutional racism. Just as important, however, was the realization by many Africian Americans that the law would no longer protect injustice. By interpreting the Fourteenth Amendment as extending equal protection of the law to education the door had been opened to allow minorities equal access to all institutions and opportunities available to citizens of the United States.

Warren knew that he could count on the support of Justices Frankfurter, Douglass, Black, Minton, and Burton. With the support of these justices he claimed victory by majority, but a six to three decision he felt was not good enough. Such a controversial decision must be supported unanimously. Chief Justice Warren took great effort in persuading Justice Clark and Justice Jackson. They both consented to voting for desegregation if, and only if, their vote made the decision of the court unanimous.

ed a small fleet of lawyers who fought for the everyday rights of African Americans. Although the NAACP regarded public school segregation as the heart of their problems they rarely attacked it directly. Rather, they tended to fight for rights that posed less of a direct threat to ingrained Southern values.

"We come then to the question presented: Does segregation of children in public schools solely on the basis of race, even though the physical facilities and other "tangible" factors may be equal, deprive the children of the minority group of equal educational opportunities? We believe that it does...We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of 'separate but equal' has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal. Therefore, we hold that the plaintiffs and others similarly situated for whom the actions have been brought are, by reason of the segregation complained of, deprived of the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment."

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Approximate Word count = 2646
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page double spaced)