Brown Vs. Board of Education

In 1951, a class action suit was filed against the Board of Education of the City of Topeka, Kansas in the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas. The plaintiffs were thirteen Topeka parents on behalf of their twenty children. The suit called for the school district to reverse its policy of racial segregation. Separate elementary schools were operated by the Topeka Board of Education under 1879 Kansas law which permitted (but did not require) districts to maintain separate elementary school facilities for black and white students in twelve communities with populations over 15,000. The Board of Education of Topeka began to end segregation in the Topeka elementary schools in August of 1953, integrating two attendance districts. All the Topeka elementary schools were changed to neighborhood attendance centers in January of 1956, although existing students were allowed to continue attending their prior assigned schools at their option. Then on May 17, 1954 the Warren Court handed down a 9-0 decision which stated, in no uncertain terms that “separate facilities are inherently unequal”. Brown did not, however, result in the immediate desegregation of America’s public schools, nor did it mandate desegregation of public accommodations, such as restaurants or bathrooms, that were owned by private parties, which would not be accomplished until the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. However, it was a giant step forwards for the civil rights movement.

Many articles have been written on the case of Brown vs. Board of Education since it occurred, and many opinions have been brought to the public’s attention. The opinions of the African American authors seem to be slightly different than the white author. The language that the black authors use is slightly more hostile and a little more worried about America’s integration of schools even thirty years after this event took place. The white author tends to think that integration was seen more in schools in the years after this case. Theses authors show that the school system is improving and only minor changes need to be made. The language used in the black print articles and the mainstream articles is similar, but from a black author’s perspective, integration is still a major issue that needs to be worked on.

Mainstream media is everywhere; newspapers, magazines, TV, things we see on an every day basis. The language and the perception of the events going on in the world have a great influence on the way that the general public sees the event. The authors that have written about Brown vs. Board of Education throughout the years of 1954-1984 have shown that segregation is still going on, but not to the extent that it is a huge problem. In one article from SUNRISE written by Susan B. Garland in 1984 she writes “Though the United States has made considerable progress in integrating its public schools, segregation is still widespread in states with the largest number of black children”(Garland, 1). Here it is noted that there is still segregation going on but later on Garland adds, “Many communities across the country have undergone successful and peaceful integration since the landmark May 17, 1954, decision in Brown vs. Board of Education. And evidence mounts that black and white children benefit by attending school together”(Garland, 1). So, Garland’s concern with the slight segregation that is still going on is not too high, and she points out that most schools are doing well since this case was settled. This is a reasonable argument, and many other mainstream white authors seemed to have the same opinion. Even only twenty five years after the case, authors stated that things were doing fairly well in the schools. In an article from a 1979 issue of the Washington Post Juan Williams writes “The supreme Court’s decision on May 17, 1954, stands as an example of the strength of the judicial system when it works. The battle for desegregation may be the only instance in history where a clearly visible minority without the ballot, without bayonets, and without great financial resources, was able to work within the laws to bring about a basic social change” (Williams, 1). In this article, things seem to be going very well according to Williams. It seems as though desegregation was a success and mostly everything was running smooth. Both of these articles show that Mainstream media tries to portray debatable events in a reassuring fashion, so that the general public is at ease. Authors of Black print articles, have slightly different opinions

Black Print authors were very concerned about segregation still going on in schools in the United States. These authors stated