civil rights in the United States?

To what extent was Brown v Board the most significant and influential milestone in the fight for civil rights in the United States?

By: Beatriz Zanellato

Imagine living in a world where your quality of life is solely dependent on your race, and the existing rules to protect your basic human rights are, essentially, loopholes that allow a racist society to continue behaving the same, exact and oppressive way. That is a pretty close description of America for the most part of the 20th century - a country that promised that “no person shall… deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws” , under the 14th amendment, but instead preached the absurd lie of “separate but equal” , to justify the huge disparity between treatments of black and white citizens; a sentence that triggered whole generations to act and protest for equality, for protection under law, to break systemic discrimination. From Harriet Tubman to Rosa Parks, W. E. B. Du Bois to Martin Luther King Jr, the fight for civil rights in America goes beyond centuries and is embedded in the history of the country, and it is still not over.

We are accustomed to a multicultural, accepting society that functions on the basis of respect, so it is difficult, revolting even, to imagine segregation and intolerance of different races. Unfortunately, that has once been the reality of millions of African-Americans, denied access to education on the basis of their skin colour, a barrier that stopped many from following and achieving their dreams, an endless cycle that prevented social mobility, and tried to mute voices and remove their influences on the nation. It is important to acknowledge the progress made in 1954 to tackle this huge educational issue, where a constitutional change, a massive victory, set the path for more change to create a fairer country. It was an influential step for desegregation, and though highly significant, it falls just short of most important, as that spot is reserved for the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

It is funny how history really does repeat itself. In 1946, for instance, Orange county in California was forced by the Supreme Court to desegregate their schools as they were discriminating against Latinos, a case that became known as Mendez v Westminster. Then, almost 10 years later, a huge lawsuit was filed against schools with 5 cases from 4 different states where children were neglected entrance to schools close to their houses and only accepted in sub standard segregate schools because they were black; one of the most famous constitutional cases in American history, called Brown v Board of Education.

It was a rather controversial case, especially in the deeply segregated states in the south, such as Arkansas and Alabama, which had been amongst the first to officially start passing segregation laws in 1865 (known as the “Black Codes”). The lawsuit challenging the “separate but equal” clause in regards to education was filed in 1951 in Kansas, when a little girl named Linda Brown was rejected at an all-white school close to her house, with the lawyer Thurgood Marshall representing her and other clients with the same situation. It raised the question of whether schools could really be equal if students were segregated on the basis of colour. We know the answer to that question, and luckily so did Justice Earl Warren, who set forward the idea that “we must look instead at the effect of segregation itself on public education” . In 1954, the court unanimously decided that separating generates feelings of inferiority, stating: “separate educational facilities are inherently unequal” , and unconstitutional as it went against the 14th amendment, the equal protection clause. This was very significant for the fight for civil rights in the USA, as it showed people that their voices could be heard and that things could change for the better.

However, the process took a long time, and southerners were massively resistant to the campaign, with schools closing themselves so they would not have to desegregate, such as the school in Prince Edward County in Virginia. Furthermore, by the end of the 1950s, fewer than 2% of black students attended integrated schools in the south. And as of international influence and interference, those years became known as “the decade of consensus” , with countries being afraid to criticize American practices for the fear of being labelled “communists” , as the Cold War had just started.

In a nutshell, although segregation went against most “American values” such as individualism and belief in equal opportunity, desegregation was still highly unpopular, and did not cause much change in many people ` s particular ideologies. It was an important milestone, but by itself, had not been as significant. But, one specific event that came out of it was really eye opening to the country, where nine students began to frequent a recently integrated school, in Arkansas, a couple years after Rosa Parks ` s refusal to give up her seat which led to the Montgomery Bus Boycotts and kick started the movement. A group of high school students that became known as Little Rock Nine.

In the weeks prior to the start of the semester, the group of pupils took part in intensive counselling sessions to prepare them for the hostile environment they would encounter, and two days before they started school, the governor, Orval Faubus, announced he would use the Arkansas National Guard to prevent the African-American students entering, claiming it was for their own protection. On the day, eight of the students but one carpooled together to school. Elizabeth Eckford did not have a phone so there was no way to contact her, causing her to arrive at school alone, and the image of her walking towards the school, amidst massive crowds of white students and adults screaming at her, is one of the most meaningful and powerful images of the horrible extent of racism in 20th century America, a picture that spread nationally and internationally, bringing awareness to what was taking place. Soon, judges were taking legal action against the governor, with even President Dwight Eisenhower becoming involved. Eisenhower sent 1200 members of the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division to control the National Guard, but the governor still opposed the students’ entrance to the school, even closing it for a whole year in 1958. The students endured horrible bullying, discrimination in school activities, being banned from participating in extracurriculars, and even the parents were affected, with Gloria Rays’ mother being fired for not removing her daughter from the school. Yet still they persevered, with eight of the students graduating in ceremonies attended by Martin Luther King Jr himself. This significant event in the history of the civil rights movement only happened because of Brown v Board of Education, which showcases teh case's crucial importance in the fight for racial equality.

In conclusion, Brown v Board was an extremely important milestone in the fight for civil rights, as it not only helped remove segregation, but also gave hope, hope that it was worth fighting for the cause, hope that their voices would be heard, hope for desegregation, hope for a true “equal protection of the laws” . Brown v Board does not necessarily have to be considered the most important event, since one could argue it was the Civil Rights Act they were aiming for all along, but it was the most influential, it led to more change, it set the example and inspiration needed to really make a difference. Therefore, remember the names of those who contributed to this huge fight for not only education, but also civil rights, remember the names of Justice Earl Warren who helped pass the law for desegregation, remember Thurgood Marshall, the lawyer who went on to become the first African-American Supreme Court Justice, remember Minnijean Brown, Elizabeth Eckford, Ernest Green, Thelma Mothershed, Melba Patillo, Gloria Ray, Terrence Roberts, Jefferson Thomas and Carlotta Walls, the nine courageous students who registered and attended the school despite threats and opposition. Remember them. Next time you accidentally distance yourself from everything that really happened, as we have a tendency to believe historical events happened a long time ago, recall the fact that some of those students are not yet 80.