What was the historical context of Brown v Board of Education?

Answer 1

Brown v. Board of Education was a landmark case in the United States in 1954. At the time, racial segregation was legal in public schools under the "separate but equal" doctrine established by the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson decision. However, the Civil Rights Movement was gaining momentum, and challenges against segregation were becoming more widespread. The case arose as a result of multiple lawsuits filed by African American families seeking to challenge the racially segregated school system.

Answer 2

After the Civil War, many Southern states still did not want to educate African-American students. However, the Supreme Court ruled that all children must be given the same education. Therefore, the school districts built two school districts - one for whites, and one for African-Americans.

The Supreme Court agreed that segregation was legal, as long as both school systems offered equal educational opportunities. This was known as "Separate but Equal", and became the linchpin for segregationist laws throughout the South.

In 1954, The Supreme Court reversed itself and ruled that separate was "inherently unequal." Although the judgment was rendered in answer to a lawsuit brought by some parents against their local school district, the meaning of the judgment eventually spread to all other areas of life: Segregation was dead in the U.S.

Of course, it wasn't that easy. Race riots continued over segregation through the early '60s - think Rosa Parks and her refusal to sit in the back of the bus - but segregation never again had a legal leg to stand on.