Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (Brown 1), 347 U.S. 483

Supreme Court of the United States

1954

Chapter

5

Title

Equality and the Constitution

Page

465

Topic

Slavery, Jim Crow, and the Equal Protection Principal

Quick Notes

African-American school children were denied admission to white schools by state segregation laws.

Rule

o         Separate facilities in public education are inherently unequal and therefore violate equal protection.

Application

o         Separate but equal is dead!!!

Court - Holding

o         We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of "separate but equal" has no place.

o         Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal. 

o         School segregation violates equal protection.

Book Name

Constitutional Law : Stone, Seidman, Sunstein, Tushnet.  ISBN:  978-0-7355-7719-0

Issue

o         Whether forced segregation of public schools violates equal protection?  Hell Yes.

o         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? Hell Yes.

Procedure

Trial

o         United States District Court for the District of Kansas that, although it held that segregation in public education had a detrimental effect upon African-American children, denied relief on the ground that the schools were substantially equal with respect to buildings, transportation, curricula, and educational qualifications of teachers

Supreme

o         Reversed. 

o         The Court overturned Plessy v. Ferguson and the "separate but equal" doctrine, finding that it had no place in public education. Segregation was a denial of the equal protection of the laws under the Fourteenth Amendment. Separate educational facilities were inherently unequal.

Facts

Discussion

Key Phrases

Rules

Pl Brown

Df Board of Education

Description

o         In this consolidated action, African American students in four states were denied admission to schools attended by white children under state laws requiring or permitting segregation.

o         In most of the cases, the courts below denied relief, citing the "separate but equal" doctrine of Plessy v. Ferguson.

o         The students argue that segregated schools are not "equal" and cannot be made "equal" and thus the segregation laws deprive them of equal protection.

Justice Warren

Inconclusive Evidence in regards to racial segregation

o         At argument the parties discussed the history of the adoption of the 14th Amendment.

o         We find that the historical sources are inconclusive evidence as to what the framers of the Amendment meant when enacting the amendment in 1868 in regard to racial segregation.

o         Some wanted the 14th Amendment to be broad and all-encompassing, while others wanted it to be of limited scope.

o    Proponents wanted to remove ALL legal distinctions among all person born or naturalized in the United States.

o    Opponents with the civil war amendments to have a limited effect.

Inconclusive nature of school segregation (non-existent or prohibited)

o         White child were largely educated in private schools.

o         African American education was almost non-existent and sometime prohibited in some states.

o         It is not surprising that there should be so little in the history of the 14th Amendment relating to its intended effect on public education.

Northern States were generally ignored

o         Northern schools had a rudimentary curriculum.

o         Some school terms were 3 months a year.

o         Compulsory attendance was virtually unknown.

o         So there was little history of the 14thh Amendment relating to it intended effect on public education.

Separate but Equal (Present Place in American Life)

o         We must consider education in light of its present development and its place in modern America.

o         Today, education is perhaps the most important function of state and local government.

Education is needed to succeed in life

o         It is the very foundation of good citizenship and the principle instrument in awakening the child to cultural values, preparing him for later professional training, and helping him adjust normally to his environment.

o         Where the state has undertaken to provide such an opportunity, it is a right that must be made available to all on equal terms.

Segregation Deprives minority groups equal educational opportunities

o         We believe that it does.

o         The intangible factors make a separate education an unequal education.

Segregation generates feelings of inferiority and affects motivation

o         Separating school children of similar age and qualification solely because of their race generates a feeling of inferiority as to their status in the community that may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely ever to be undone.

o         One of the lower courts observed that separating the races is usually interpreted as denoting the inferiority of the African American group, which affects the motivation of a child to learn.

o         Legally sanctioned segregation retards the educational and mental development of African American children and deprives them of some of the benefits they would receive in a racially integrated school system.

Court - Holding

o         We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of "separate but equal" has no place.

o         Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal. 

o         School segregation violates equal protection.

o         Reversed.

Rules

Rule

o         Separate facilities in public education are inherently unequal and therefore violate equal protection.

Application

o         Separate but equal is dead!!!

Supplement

Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal

o         The Court reasoned that even where all-black and all-white schools were equal in terms of "tangible" factors, intangible factors necessarily prevented children who were restricted to all-black schools from receiving equal educational opportunities.  In particular, racial segregation "generates [in African American students] a feeling of inferiority as to their status in the community that may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely ever to be undone. ... Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal. "

Criticism of empirical basis

o         A casual reading of Brown v. Board of Education gives the impression that the Court was relying principally upon social science and empirical evidence, as in factual evidence that segregation indeed harms African American students.

o         But if that is the basis for the Court's decision, it may be criticized.

o         As one commentator has said, "I would not have the constitutional rights of [African Americans]  - or of other Americans - rest on any such flimsy foundation as some of the scientific demonstrations in these records.  [Behavioral science findings] have an uncertain expectancy of life." 30 N.Y.U L. REv. 157-58.

Class Notes