From the day Lincoln freed the slaves, blacks have been fighting for equality. There has always been some lack of equality; whether the white man prevented blacks from doing something completely or if there were just separate institutions for both. Jim Crow laws in the south forced separate but equal facilities for whites and blacks in everyday life. It wasn’t till the desegregation of public schools did we see, “the most radical and potentially far reaching aspect of the civil right’s movement” (Civilrights.org). The bold actions by the few led to the desegregation of schools in the 1960’s.

For many years, the Civil Rights movement during the first 50 years of the 20th Century accepted a policy of “separate but equal” in its struggle for access into the society. It fought in many communities for equal pay for teachers and for equal school facilities. It fought for equal libraries, recreational facilities, and health services. Plessy defined the terms of the struggle.

Plessy v. Ferguson case and Justice Harlan’s dissent. In this decision the Supreme Court decided that “separate by equal” accommodations for Whites and Colored railroad passengers di

Seven Justices ruled against Plessy, but one, Justice Harlan, dissented. He asserted that justice should be color blind and that the enforcement of “separate but equal” interferes with the personal freedoms of individuals by legally forcing separation. As he stated, “Sixty million whites are in no danger from the presence of eight millions of Blacks...The destinies of the two races in this country are indissolubly linked together, and the interest of both require that the common government of all shall not permit the seeds of race hate to be planted under the sanction of law.” He foresaw that the decision would lead to a pattern of behavior which would be very dangerous and undermine a basic sense of justice. This makes Justice Harlan another very important rebel towards desegregation because he is expressing controversial and unique at that time. No other supreme court justice said anything like that, or would. He sets the ball moving to say what’s really all that bad with blacks, they just want a equal chance.

educational facilities are “inherently” unequal.

Before the Brown decision came about a series of Supreme Court decisions on specific educational challenges helped to lead to the Brown verdict. The first was that universities must admit Blacks to graduate facilities if a desired course of study was not available in a Black institution. Then in Sipuel v. Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma, in 1948, the Court ruled that Blacks must be admitted to state universities because they offered many opportunities not available in Black institutions. In 1950 in Sweatt v. Painter, the Court ruled that a separate Black law school, established for Sweatt after he sued for admission to the University of Texas Law School, was unequal not only in physical facilities and curriculum but in reputation and opportunity for stimulating professional contact. In Laurin v. Oklahoma State Regents, also in 1950, the Court ruled that the state violated the “separate but equal” doctrine when it required isolated cafeteria and classroom seating for Black students because it produced unequal educational opportunity.

d not violate the rights established in the 14th Amendment. Justice Brown gave the majority decision and he explained that although the Amendment was “undoubtedly to enforce the absolute equality of the two races before the law, it could not legislate the abolition of all distinctions. Laws requiring the separation of the races simply reflected the culture of the

These “lesser” cases helped show that there was inequality in public schooling. And as a result the courts found that after reviewing the history of public education since the ratification of the 14th Amendment, they had a basis upon which to declare “separate but equal” legislation unconstitutional. Education is one of the most important functions of government. The right to a good, equal education was fundamental to our “every man is created equal” democratic idea. They thus asked the question, “Does segregation of children in public schools solely on the basis of race, even though the physical facilities and other ‘tangible’ factors may be equal, deprive the children of the minority group of equal educational opportunities?” (White 43). Their answer was yes it does. Separate

On September 20th judge Davies granted an injunction against the

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