jan 1, 1954 - Brown v. Board of Education
Description:
OVERVIEW:Case overturned “Plessy v. Ferguson”, which allowed segregation in public facilities (Jim Crow Laws), with the condition that those facilities were equal (which in most cases were not). The ruling of the court was unanimous, agreeing that the “separate but equal” doctrine was inherently unequal and violated the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment.
Basic summary of the events: In 1951 at Topeka, Kansas, Linda Brown, a 3rd grade elementary student was forced to go to a colored school one mile away from her house, even though a white school was only 7 blocks away from her house. Her father tried to enroll her, but she was denied admission. NAACP used this case along with 13 others to file a lawsuit against the school board in order to reverse its racial discriminatory policies. However, the federal district court ended up siding with the board. After 3 years, 5 other cases came to be under one in 1954. On May 17, 1954, the SC ruled in favor of plaintiffs.
Further reading: https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/brown-v-board-of-education-of-topeka
Added to timeline:
Date:
jan 1, 1954
Now
~ 72 years ago