• 1954
• May
• education
• law
• Supreme Court
• Washington D. C.
• Dwight D. Eisenhower

Washington, D. C. - The United States Supreme Court decided school segregation of students was illegal. Ir was ruled a violation of the Equal Protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Brown was not the only school segregation case considered. It included cases from Kansas, Delaware, South Carolina, and Virginia. They were all rolled into one decision.

There was one key question. 'Does the racial segregation of children in school deprive them of an equal education?' The U. S. Supreme Court decided yes.

It was not until the 1960s, that schools began to desegregate in number. The process was slow by 1965 and was never fully realized. Schools are still very segregated.

Whites challenged integration and protested. White parents left integrated schools, as 'bad' schools. Or, whites called neighborhoods 'bad' if there were too many Black American children.

A tragedy of the decision is that it destroyed all-Black American schools. By the time of the decision, many of these schools had unique cultures that catered to Black American students. That disappeared.

Many Black American teachers, principals, and administrators lost their jobs. White schools rarely hired them. If Black Americans were hired, it was into a hostile setting. They were undermined by white teachers, administrators, school boards, and the white students.

Today, the damage of this decision is seen today. When the students are mostly Black (American), the hand giving the grade, is often white (or at least not Black American). It has led to decades of poor performance, low graduation rates, and high delinquency.

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