The hearing was about a man named Homer Plessy who refused to leave a "whites only" railroad car because the state law requiring segregated cars violated his right to "equal protection of the law". This court case did not do much for African Americans because the facilities for blacks were no where near equal with the white facilities. This aggravated the blacks and they finally protested against segregation and their struggle to vote. Booker T. Washington, a former slave from Virginia, and William E. B. Du Bois, a brilliant scholar, were two leaders with different views. Washington focused more on improving African American education and industrial skill rather than the injustices they have suffered while Du Bois focused more on demanding equality and standing up to discrimination.
The NAACP was an organization that was against the discrimination and segregation of African Americans. In 1952, members of the NAACP challenged the segregation of elementary and secondary schools in a case called Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. Linda Brown, a young black girl who had to walk one mile through a railroad to get to her black elementary school, even though a white elementary school was only blocks away. Linda's father, Oliver Brown, tried to enroll her in the white elementary school, but the principal of the school refused. This court case concluded that "separate educational facilities were inherently unequal". Brown v Board of Education was the court case that reopened the doors to equality, however, many white schools closed to prevent integration. On September 2, 1957, a federal court order established a plan to integrate Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. The governor of Arkansas called the National Guard to prevent the nine black students from enrolling in the school. Because he was faced with a court order, it did not follow through; however, the nine black students were attacked when they tried to enter the school.
