Summary
In Brown v. Board of Education (1954), attorneys Harold P. Boulware, Thurgood Marshal, and Spottswood W. Robinson III argued that school segregation and the idea of “separate but equal” violated the 14th Amendment.
Credit: Library of Congress
In the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson decision, the Supreme Court ruled that segregation was constitutional and established the “separate but equal doctrine.” Decades later, Thurgood Marshall traveled to the South to see firsthand the racial disparities that existed within the American public school system. With the Legal Defense Fund, he fought against racial segregation in the courts.
In Brown v. Board of Education (1954), Marshall presented psychological and constitutional arguments against racial segregation. After the Supreme Court issued its unanimous decision overturning Plessy, individuals, organizations, and governments resisted integration. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 gave the federal government more power to enforce integration which ultimately led to more integration of public schools.
In this lesson, you explored:
- Racial disparities that existed in public schools before Brown v. Board of Education
- The psychological and Constitutional arguments employed by Thurgood Marshall in his arguments before the Supreme Court
- The “massive resistance” organized by White Citizens’ Councils and Prince Edward County Public Schools
- The use of federal intervention at Little Rock Central High and Ole’ Miss to enforce integration
- How the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 impacted the fight over integration
