Friday, June 4, 2010

US Segregation 1954



In 1896, the Plessy v. Ferguson supreme court case determined that "separate but equal" was constitutional. The Supreme court stated, a statue which is adistinction which is founded in the color of two races. Also which must always exist so long as white men are distinguished from the other race by color. The Plessy v. Ferguson legitimed the numberous state and local laws that had been created around the U.S. after the Civil War. In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court declared that establishment of separate public schools for blacks and white students is inherently unequal and therefore unconstitutional. The legal challenge to school segregation was led by the Nation Association for the Advancement of colored People(NAACP).

With the backdrop of local control of public schools, the afteraffects of salvery played out for more than a century. The 13th amendment to the constitution banned slavery in 1865, and in 1868 the 14th amendment forbade any state from denying to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. During 1949-1950 school year averaged $179 for white students but only $43 for blacks. Also whites were given free bus transport, while black students were abliged to walk. When the Civil Rights Act of 1964 specifically authorized the U.S. attorney general to file lawsuits to force school desegregation, the door on legal segregation closed. Today no American child attends a equally segregated school.

Written By: Jessica A.

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