This is the majority opinion, being held by Clayborne Carson David Garrow Constance Motley Waldo Martin James Patterson Brian Daugherity and Charles Bolton. As the Civil Rights Movement led to the passage of the Civil Rights legislation, historians who see Brown as an inspiration draw a link between Brown and these acts. The major point of disagreement concerns whether Brown was an inspiration to the Civil Rights Movement. Scholars tend to agree that the Brown decision did not lead to desegregation in the Southern schooling system in the decade following the ruling. It will argue that, despite not leading directly to school desegregation, it was a catalyst for segregation to be undermined and links to the Civil Rights legislation passed in the 1960s.
This essay will question how impactful the Brown decision was to ending legal segregation. Yet, by the late 1960s, the federal government had passed laws ending legal segregation in America. There was a backlash to the decision, with racist politicians avoiding implementing the decision and racist Southerners forming organizations like the White Citizens’ Councils, to attempt to uphold Southern segregation. However, Brown did not lead to the immediate desegregation of schools. The Brown decision thus challenged, in theory, the system of legal segregation in the American South. The implications of this decision were boundless, as it overturned Plessy vs Ferguson, the Supreme Court decision that segregation was legal, as long as facilities were equal. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Earl Warren, argued that segregated schools were inherently unequal, in spite of equalization of facilities, as they denoted feelings of inferiority amongst African American students. On May 17th, 1954, the Supreme Court ruled that segregation in schools was unconstitutional. This essay succinctly explores the case and its ramifications, providing a useful reference point for those interested in the liberation of African Americans. The Brown vs Board of Education verdict acted as a catalyst for the end of legal segregation and provided a precedent for further litigation against segregation, ensuring its place as a canonised moment in the Civil Rights Movement. This is an extended 3,500 word research essay from the third year unit Black Lives Matter: The African American Freedom Struggle (1945-Present), receiving a mark of 70.
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