Finally, one man chose to stand up for what he believed in, and attempted to question the law. Oliver Brown lived with his family on First Street near the Topeka Avenue. Brown's family lived on the wrong side of town. Their home was close to the railroad shop where he worked, and bordered a major switchyard (Dougherty). Not only was it difficult to live in such noisy conditions, but also the Brown children had to walk through the switchyard to get to the black school a mile away. Meanwhile, there was another school only seven blocks away, but it was segregated for white children only (Dougherty). When his daughter Linda was to enter the third grade in September, Brown took her to the whites-only school and tried to enroll her. He was told that such an enrollment was impossible due to the segregation laws of Topeka, Kansas. Thereafter, Brown sought help from the local National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (4). The organization, under the direction of McKinley Burnett, had been waiting for an excellent chance to challenge the segregation issue. Finally, they had the perfect “plaintiff” to defend the case (4). Now that he had Brown and several other black parents in Topeka with children in blacks only schools, Burnett and the NAACP decided that it was time to take legal action (Dougherty).
On March 22, 1951The NAACP lawyers filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas, requesting the abolition of segregation in the school system. Brown and the other black parents testified to the fact that their children were denied admission to white schools. According to Atkinsin one parent testified: “It wasn't to cast any insinuations that our teachers are not capable of teaching our children because they are supreme, extremely intelligent and are capable of teaching my kids or white kids or black kids. But my point was that not only I and my children are craving light, the entire colored race is craving light, and the only way to reach the light is to start our children together in their infancy and they come up together.” (59)
With the experience of dealing with many court battles over racial discrimination, Marshall was known with segregation issues. As a matter of fact, according to U.S. Court Cases, he was anxious to demonstrate not only that segregation did not follow the demands of the Constitution of the United States but also that it may psychologically damage African-Americans, especially the children. In order to prove his point Marshall invited several social scientists to study the situation in Topeka, Kansas, and to comment on the psychological impact of segregation. The groups stated, assigning a particular group to separate facilities identified this group as having a lower status than other people. (U.S. Court Cases). Being exposed to segregation and being considered as inferior lowered the self-esteem of the group (171).
The Board of Education's lawyer's felt differently about the psychological effects on the children. They felt that since most restaurants, bathrooms, and public facilities in Kansas City were also segregated, schools were only preparing black children for the life of black adults. The board's argument did not convince the judges. The board was assuming that segregation was a natural desirable way of life for the races to live (Atkinsin). Next, the board used the example of many successful African Americans, who lived through the abolition of slavery, and segregated schools. They believed that segregated schools did not have any prejudicial effect on the children. On August 3, 1951 the court was ready to give decision. The three judges deciding the case were aware of the Plessy vs. Ferguson decision of 1896. Plessy justified the separate, but equal school system between the races. As a result, nothing was overturned or changed. Despite expert testimony that separate-but-equal schools were inherently impossible, the court felt compelled to deny Brown and the other plaintiffs (121).
On October 1, 1951 the “plaintiffs” filed a petition for appeal. Under certain special procedures, they went directly to the U.S. Supreme Court for a trial. Marshall pushed his associates through sixteen-hour days of research as the NAACP's lawyers prepared the legal briefs that would put forth their argument and the courtroom strategy that would attempt to convince the nine justices of the Supreme Court to rule in favor or the NAACP and outlaw segregation in public schools (6). They had to influence the court into believing that the rulings on school desegregation handed down during the first decades of the twentieth century should never govern these recent cases (6). Marshall and his team would have to present the argument that the most recent school desegregation victories suggest that the Plessy vs. Ferguson decision was losing its legal and moral standing, especially when it dealt with public education (5). The men playing the justices asked difficult questions at the NAACP's lawyers. As a result, Marshall and his legal team gathered together to perfect their arguments and counterarguments. By December 9, Marshall and his assistants were prepared to present the most important case of their lives before the U.S. Supreme Court (5).
Finally, on May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court Justices were ready to deliver their decisions. At around one o'clock, Chief Justice Warren announced that he was ready to read the Court's opinion in the case of Brown vs. The Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. He reviewed the facts of the case first from the people claims to the decisions of the lower court. He continued with commenting that segregated schools damage African American students by generating a feeling of inferiority as to their status in the community that may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlike ever to be done (7). Warren then went on to say: “We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine or 'separate, but equal' has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal. Therefore, we hold that the plaintiffs and others similarly situated are deprived of the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment” (U.S Court Case).
Although it took a great deal of work, and effort Brown vs. The Board of Education proved to be the most important Supreme Court case of the twentieth century. With the help of the NAACP, and the intelligence and strategy of Thurgood Marshall, segregation was eliminated; and the idea of separate, but equal was no longer accepted. The Brown vs. The Board of Education decision not only legally ended segregation, it deprived segregationist practices of their moral legitimacy as well (Fireside). It was therefore perhaps the single most important moment of the decade.
