Seperate But Equal

Essay by PaperNerd ContributorHigh School, 11th grade August 2001

download word file, 2 pages 0.0

Separate But Equal Segregation was a very sensitive issue in the 1950's. In 1951 it was challenged by an African- American school district in South Carolina. The movie "Seperate but Equal" illustrates what it was like when this was going on. It demonstrates topics on segregation and how the Supreme Court worked.

Segregation is the separation of blacks and whites. In 1896, in the Plessy vs. Ferguson case, the U.S. Supreme court ruled segregation legal as long as there were equal facilities. It established "separate but equal". They said then it would not be a violation of the 14th amendment. The 14th amendment gave blacks citizenship, and no state may deny any citizen equal protection or due process under the law. Many times throughout the movie the 14th amendment was violated. Blacks were not receiving equal protection of law and also did not receive fair and equal schooling.

An example of how the 14th amendment was violated is when firefighters refused to put out a fire burning down a blacks man's home and how a black man had to sleep in his car because there was not a " black hotel" for miles. Jim Crow laws were the names of the laws given to segregation. There were facilities for the black people and facilities for whites. This was displayed very clearly in the movie through the separation of colored and white children in schools.

The NAACP or National Association for Advancement of Colored People, worked very hard to gain the rights blacks deserved as citizens. Thurgood Marshall was one of the heads of the organization and a successful lawyer. He represented the people from South Carolina. The major focus of the NAACP was the protection of civil rights for blacks. It tried for a long time...