The importance of brown vs. the board of education

Essay by kickthewelfare04Junior High, 8th grade February 2004

download word file, 5 pages 4.4

Brown v. Board of Education was a landmark case in the history of American education. There were several events and issues which led up to this critical event. From the 1892 Plessy vs. Ferguson Supreme Court Case, the precedent of "separate but equal" was set. This doctrine affected the school system, in that there were separate schools for white and black children. These schools were constitutional as long as they were equal. In the 1900s, with industrialism in the forefront, the cities went through a process of alteration. This concept is crucial because it illustrates that people began to live in ethnic enclaves. These neighborhoods later effected where students would attend school. In turn, the quality of the schools were also affected depending on the area.

In 1908, the case of Braya College vs. Kentucky attacked the racially mixed school of Braya College in Kentucky. The state mandated that there be separate facilities separated by at least 25 miles.

The Supreme Court upheld the ruling and Braya College was segregated.

Then in 1931, the issue of segregation was challenged by the Lemon Grove Incident in San Diego. In this case, which was used as a precedent for the Brown vs. Board of Education case, the parents of Mexican children demanded that their children be given the same education as the local ranch owners' children. The judge favored for the Mexican children and ruled that school desegregation was illegal.

Finally, another event leading up to the Brown vs. Board of Education was the case of Gaines vs. Missouri in 1938. In this case, Gaines, a black law student, wanted to go to law school in Missouri. Due to a lack of separate facilities, Missouri had the option of paying for Gaines to attend law school in another state which has separate...