Why did the NAACP challenge segregation of schools in Brown Vs Board of Education and how effective was that challenge?

Montserrat Shelbourne

Why did the NAACP challenge segregation of schools in Brown Vs Board of Education and how Effective was that challenge?

The struggle for racial equality was not a novel issue in America during the 1950’s. In fact, the civil rights movement essentially began when African-Americans first arrived in the early 1600’s as slaves. But it wasn’t until 300 years afterward, that these suppressed, abused, and angry individuals found the courage to change a society hypocritical of its own constitution. The migration of one and a half million black southerners to the North replaced a once considered trite southern conflict with a national crisis. The 1950’s promised a decade of protests, rioting, court cases, and suffering. This decade brought neither the beginning nor the end of the civil rights movement, but it did bring about change.

This is a preview of the whole essay

In the summer of 1950, thirteen parents from Topeka, Kansas were denied permission to enrol their children in neighbourhood schools simply because they were black, a young black girl named Linda Brown had to ride a bus two miles to a public school. She wanted to simply walk to a school four blocks from home, the same one her white neighbours attended. Although all the schools in a given district were supposed to be equal, most black schools were far inferior to their white counterparts. Under the influence of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured (NAACP), they filed a lawsuit against the Topeka Board of Education in 1951. (Rev. Oliver Brown was the first parent listed, thus the case was named after him) Though they initially lost the court’s favour at the U.S district level, it was only a matter of two years before Brown vs. the board of education fell into the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court. On May 17th, 1954, the "Separate but Equal" doctrine was overruled, and segregation in schools was eliminated, and forever changed America’s social policy. This was a good sign as black coloured students would be able to attend public schools close to them and because it was a beginning, also because in the end the NAACP got what they wanted the desegregation of public schools but it was also ineffective in a few ways as many of the whites did not like the idea which caused them to become rebellious because they were angry, harassing the black students as in “Little rock”, mobs were attacking and being very rude to the students causing Eisenhower to act sending troops to protect the very brave black students.

White citizens councils were formed due to not being in favour with the law.

The Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education decision did not abolish segregation in other public areas, such as restaurants and restrooms, nor did it require desegregation of public schools by a specific time. It did, however, declare the permissive or mandatory segregation that existed in 21 states unconstitutional. It was a giant step towards complete desegregation of public schools. Even partial desegregation of these schools, however, was still very far away, but it was a beginning and a start, which would help them through.