LAD #37: Brown vs. Board of Education; Topeka, Kansas

Linda Brown, a young African American, walked approximately a mile everyday in order to catch a bus to go to her school. Linda, however, could have very easily attended a white elementary school seven blocks away, but she was denied enrollment into the school due to her race. Oliver Brown, her father, accompanied by thirteen other parents decided to bring the issue to the courts. Brown rightfully argued that black schools received only a third of the funding as white schools. "They did not have the most current textbooks, not enough school supplies, and overcrowded classrooms." Yet, the court room, dominated by whites, referred to the Plessy v. Ferguson in which the doctrine of separate but equal had been defended. The NAACP would not face defeat that easily. Rather, they decided to appeal the case to the Supreme Court. On October 1, 1951, many cases appealing the same thing were combined into one trial; the hearings would begin on the October 9. The Browns argued that black children attended black schools in order to keep them different from everyone else. The case continued for several months. However, after one of the justices, the case had to basically begin once again. Finally, after two years, the ruling was made in favor of the Browns; segregation of schools was outlawed. Tensions between blacks and whites ensued for some time, however, making the path to segregation a rather grueling one.